{"id":83680,"date":"2025-07-15T16:35:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T22:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=83680"},"modified":"2025-07-18T09:40:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T15:40:44","slug":"why-vitamin-d-is-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/why-vitamin-d-is-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Why you might want to take vitamin D supplements"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"Getting
Getting enough vitamin D is crucial for our health. Although our bodies produce vitamin D with exposure to the sun, reports indicate that at least 25% of the U.S. population is vitamin D deficient. Photo: Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some supplements you can take or leave<\/a>. Vitamin D is one you should consider taking.<\/p>\n

Unlike, say, vitamin C, it\u2019s hard to get enough of through diet alone. And while our bodies can make vitamin D with exposure to the sun\u2019s ultraviolet-B light (hence the \u201csunshine vitamin\u201d nickname), our indoor lifestyles and our wise use of sunscreen conspire to limit our personal vitamin D production. So, by at least one measure<\/a>, about 25% of the U.S. population is vitamin D deficient, and another 41% don\u2019t get quite enough. Older people, women, African Americans, and those ages 20-29 are particularly prone to vitamin D deficiency.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the evolving science around vitamin D continues to describe the ways getting enough vitamin D helps us stay healthy. What\u2019s increasingly clear is that getting too little vitamin D in childhood \u2013 and perhaps well beyond \u2013 may boost risk of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and even cardiovascular disease in adulthood.<\/p>\n

Vitamin D may limit multiple sclerosis damage<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Vitamin D is best known for preventing rickets<\/a>, the childhood bone disorder. That connection led to vitamin D fortified milk and other foods. But more recently, vitamin D\u2019s broader impact on the immune system has been a research focus.<\/p>\n

One example is a recent study<\/a> of patients who had had a single episode of what, if repeated, becomes multiple sclerosis<\/a> (MS), an autoimmune condition in which the body attacks the protective sheaths surrounding nerve cells. It found that 60.3% of patients given vitamin D supplements for two years had brain and spinal-cord lesions \u2013 less than the 74.1% of patients with lesions who had been given a placebo rather than vitamin D.<\/p>\n

Dr. Enrique Alvarez<\/a>, a University of Colorado School of Medicine Neurologist who specializes in MS patients at UCHealth Neurosciences Center \u2013 Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a>, said the study was well designed and that it \u201chighlights the effect that vitamin D may be helpful.\u201d But he added that there was a high degree of disease in both the vitamin D and placebo groups, and that today\u2019s MS drugs have a bigger impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, vitamin D may reduce disease activity, but I would consider it an add-on to our current therapies,\u201d Alvarez said.<\/p>\n

The study corroborated what\u2019s known as the long-recognized \u201clatitude effect<\/a>\u201d in MS prevalence, Alvarez noted. In northern and southern latitudes where the sun shines less, there\u2019s more MS in a given population.<\/p>\n

Vitamin D is most important in childhood<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Vitamin D\u2019s impact on immune-system development may be why<\/a>. In particular, vitamin D is central to the health of the thymus<\/a>, an immune system organ that\u2019s central to teaching T-cells<\/a> what\u2019s friend or foe early in life. (The thymus actually shrinks after puberty). A recent study<\/a> of mice genetically engineered to produce no vitamin D found that their thymuses aged prematurely. That led their immune systems to be more likely to attack the body\u2019s own tissues, which is what happens in autoimmune diseases.<\/p>\n

The link between vitamin D deficiency and MS is also why Alvarez and colleagues recommend vitamin D supplements when patients ask what they can do to lower their kids\u2019 risk of getting the disease. (MS is not considered<\/a> a hereditary disease, but the risk of MS are higher if a parent or sibling has it).<\/p>\n

Low vitamin D levels in childhood may also have cardiovascular impacts, another recent study found. The Finnish study<\/a> had stored blood samples taken from 3,516 kids ages 5 to 15 years old in 1980 and, adjusting for factors such as diet, physical activity, and socioeconomic status, looked at their risk of early-onset atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in 2018. They found those with low childhood vitamin D levels to have had between 1.5 times and twice the likelihood of cardiovascular disease by the time they were in their mid-fifties.<\/p>\n

Addressing vitamin D deficiency is key<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Not all research has pointed to vitamin D as a potential benefactor. Dr. Adit Ginde<\/a>, a University of Colorado School of Medicine Emergency Medicine physician and the school\u2019s vice chair for research, was part of a team that studied<\/a> vitamin D\u2019s potential to reduce acute respiratory infections. They found a slight benefit, but it didn\u2019t reach the threshold of statistical significance. Similarly, a major trial<\/a> considering whether vitamin D brought lower incidence of cancer or cardiovascular events found no benefit.<\/p>\n

Those results don\u2019t necessarily contradict those of the Finnish study, though, because the vitamin D was given to adults rather than children whose thymuses are busy training T cells. So there\u2019s still much work to be done, Ginde says. For one thing, the Finnish study was observational and would need to be confirmed with clinical trials involving vitamin D supplementation \u2013 no easy task given the decades between cause and effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been a number of studies that showed an association between vitamin D deficiency, but very few clinical trials that showed that vitamin D supplementation can improve health outcomes,\u201d Ginde said.<\/p>\n

Boosting the immune system: How much vitamin D should you take?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The MS study stands out as one of the few that have demonstrated such a link, it\u2019s compelling, he added. It backs a growing sense among researchers that vitamin D\u2019s biggest impacts may have to do with immune function, be it in tamping down autoimmune and inflammatory diseases or preventing infections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still many unanswered questions that are being tackled,\u201d Ginde said.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, even with the summer sun, it may make sense to take a vitamin D supplement to make sure you\u2019re getting enough of it<\/a>. Those ages 1 to 70 should get 600 IU international units a day; those over 70, 800 IU a day. Supplements typically come in 1,000 IU to 5,000 IU soft gels, with lower doses available as drops for babies, who should get 400 IU a day. There is such a thing as vitamin D toxicity, but it takes sustained, huge doses to get there. The participants in the MS study took 100,000 IU doses one every two weeks without risking it.<\/p>\n

Vitamin D may not be a cure-all, but research has found it to be vital to the immune system\u2019s development \u2013 and perhaps, in some cases, regulating its worst impulses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some supplements you can take or leave. Vitamin D is one you should consider taking. Unlike, say, vitamin C, it\u2019s hard to get enough of through diet alone. And while our bodies can make vitamin D with exposure to the sun\u2019s ultraviolet-B light (hence the \u201csunshine vitamin\u201d nickname), our indoor lifestyles and our wise use […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":84157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[457,276,351,212],"class_list":["post-83680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-living","tag-mens-health","tag-nutrition-services","tag-primary-care","tag-womens-care"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy is vitamin D important? - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why might you want to take vitamin D supplements? 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