Why Vitamin D Is So Important for Older Adults, and How to Get Enough

Most older adults don’t get enough vitamin D from food alone, which makes supplements the most practical way to fill the gap.

“If they are in oil-based capsules, you absorb them well. If they’re in pill form, which is a hard form, it’s better to take them with a meal or something to eat that has fat in it,” says Dawson-Hughes.

As long as you take your supplement with a meal or snack that contains fat, your body absorbs vitamin D from a supplement just as well as vitamin D from food, she adds.

Vitamin D Dosing and Types

An 800 IU vitamin D supplement will work for most people, says Dawson-Hughes. “Some people go up to 1,000 because it’s very convenient to find those pills. Somewhere in the 800 to 1,000 IU range is going to cover everybody unless they have a malabsorption problem,” she says.

Because vitamin D is fat-soluble, the body stores any extra in fat tissue and the liver, so it can build up to toxic levels over time. For that reason, most adults shouldn’t take more than 4,000 IU a day.

That said, even if you eat plenty of vitamin D-rich foods, taking a supplement of 800 to 1,000 IU a day shouldn’t put you at risk of toxicity, says Dawson-Hughes.

Research suggests D3 supplements are preferable to D2 in most cases, because D3 is better at raising and maintaining blood levels of vitamin D.

Daily or weekly doses are better than large doses taken less often, which have been linked to more falls and fractures.

Source link

Vitamin D Dosing and Types

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply