What's the quickest way to elevate Vitamin D levels?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

You need weight bearing exercise, you need to go to Mayo Clinic Rochester Minnesota.

It sounds like you may be a vegetarian (^_^). There was a good article about vitamin D in "Natural Health and Vegetarian Life" magazine a couple of issues ago. I've just tried searching their website but didn't have any luck with it. (It is the magazine of the Australian Vegetarian Society.) The first answer here seems very comprehensive. Good luck with regaining your health.

Here's something you may or may not know, Vitamin D is in the blue light spectrum of sunlight, and you can buy a special blue light for your house. This way you won't get burnt and will take in vitamin D in the comfort of your own home.
Try asking in a good health shop where you get one from. I thing they are about $60 though.

I am happy to see here that SOMEONE besides me says GO OUTSIDE!!! Free vitamin D right outside there.
Being a vegetarian is not going to make you deficient - your diet makes you deficient, and you're not getting enough sun.
Back in my day we heard those words every mornings: GO OUTSIDE!

Have you tried sitting in the sunshine for 30 minutes a day with as little clothing as practicable. It is the best source of vitamin D you can get.

Just go any pharmacy and ask, "Vitamin D complex" that's it!

The best way to raise your vitamin D levels is by soaking up the sun as you are doing. I would stop taking the vegetarian vitamin D since that is D2. You want D3 which is natural and by taking D2 you are giving yourself a false sense of security. Your blood levels may rise, but it is the D3 that is the key to regaining your health. [1]

"Vitamin D is in a class by itself. Its metabolic product, calcitriol, is actually a secosteroid hormone that is the key that unlocks binding sites on the human genome. The human genome contains more than 2,700 binding sites for calcitriol; those binding sites are near genes involved in virtually every known major disease of humans." [2]

So what would be the best strategy to help raise your vitamin D levels? I would continue to get as much sun as possible and on days when it is not sunny you can use a tanning bed to help. It is important to remember that depending on where you are getting sun might not be enough. You get exposed to more UV-B rays the closer you are to the equator. So you might want to consider taking supplemental vitamin D3 temporarily until you get your blood levels up to optimal levels ( greater than 50 nmol/L.) [3]

I would also recommend that you consider taking additional supplements like a multi-vitamin and a magnesium supplement. I would avoid sources of D2 as it is possible that it may hinder your efforts of achieving a healthy vitamin D level.

1 http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2007/0…
2 http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
3 http://drbenkim.com/vitamin-d-facts.htm
D2 versus D3 http://www.thevitamindcure.com/blog/?tag…

I'm currently deficient in vitamin D and only have gone from 30 to 40nmol/L in 6 months...trying to get to optimal 200nmol/l. I'm taking D3 (yes this is more effective) in liquid form...i take 5000IU a day. I did a bit more research as to why it's taking forever! to boost my levels and i found there are co factors needed in order to utilize vitamin D properly.

Magnesium (most important), zinc, vitamin K2, boron and vitamin A. I have a few of these deficiencies. Zinc deficiency is an easy test i had done for free at a pharmacy but you may need to buy the zinc sulfate and do the test at home. A zinc deficiency explains why i have to add a LOT of salt to my chicken lol (zinc is essential for maintaining your senses of taste and smell). Check the link about the zinc taste teste >>>http://www.diabetesexplained.com/zinc-di…

Calcium cannot absorb without vitamin D. Calcium and magnesium work together (magnesium deficiency is one of the causes for vitamin D deficiency) so a good ratio is 2:1 eg: 1000mg of calcium to 500mg of magnesium. An easy home test for hypocalcemia is called the chvostek sign. When the facial nerve is tapped at the angle of the jaw, you will typically see a twitch of the nose or lips >>>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ-xMeNAq…

Good links about vitamin D>>>
http://www.goodhealthwellnessblog.com/19…
http://www.foodmatters.tv/_webapp_296559…
http://jeffreydach.com/2007/06/10/vitami…
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
http://www.politicolnews.com/vitamin-d-a…

RedAngel

Regular vitamin D/D2 is completely useless.
Vitamin D3 is the one you want to take. No studies have established an actual upper limit/toxic dose but it's guessed to be around 50,000iu a day for several months. No one does this in reality.
Vitamin D3 is actually a hormone.
You need to expose at least half your body to the sun for at least 30 minutes to manufacture about 20,000iu of D3.
You would be better off seeing a Naturopath or Homeopath than a regular MD. They get no training in nutrition, and what they know about vitamin deficiencies is very basic old information. They are trained to prescribe drugs. This is why most of them are still prescribing useless D2.
Mercola.com has a wealth of information on vitamin D testing, research studies, etc.
The current recommendation by natural health experts is 5 to 10,000iu of D3 daily as a maintenance dose in winter when people who live north of Atlanta can't manufacture their own D3 from sun exposure because the sun's rays are too weak to be of any benefit.

Everyone has excellent suggestions. I just wanted to add that I was told vitamin D from the sun has to be when the sun rays are close, or strongest, and if you take a lot of showers and use a lot of soap, without the natural oils on your skin your body cannot absorb the vitamin D from the sun. The softest skin I ever felt on someone was someone who rarely took a shower, and didn't use soap. You can wash parts of your body that need washing every day, but keep out of the shower...and don't use soap on the parts of your skin you want to pick up the sunlight. Vitamin D is toxic in large amounts in oil soluble forms, but one almost has to eat a polar bear liver to get that much...Adelle Davis tells in her books Lets Eat Right to Keep Fit and Let's Get Well, what the toxity amounts are, also taking Vitamin E helps keep it from being toxic. Digestive enzymes termporarily might help your body absorb the vitamin D. Something about cod liver oil, just one capsule a day, that's not enough oil soluable to do anything toxic, not even close, but I took a teaspoon one day, and I never sat us so straight ever, within an hour my posture was perfect, people who don't sand up and sit up straight could well be helped by cod liver oil, it's just easier in the capsules, so you don't have to taste it. You might try one of these a day, because it absorbs so well, or maybe your body can use it better, the oil soluable vitamins like the cod liver oil kind also absorb through your skin, although you wouldn't smell too great! Good Luck

You know there are other reason for osteomalacia. Kidney dysfunction, acidosis, liver problems and phosphate depletion. Make sure they are all normal. The best way to get Vit D is sunlight. You can also take supplements.. D2 and D3 does not have any real biological activity. Those forms must be converted into cholecalciferol the active form in the kidney or liver. That's why those organs must be functioning correctly.You can take Vitamin D supplements as well but remember that it is a fat soluble vitamin which means it is stored and you can get too much of it. Good luck

www.ForensicNutritionist.com
www.HealthDirectorySearch.com