This blog post will walk you through: vitamin d testing.
What Is A Vitamin D Test?
Vitamin D3 is made by your own body when you are exposed to sunlight. It is also found in some foods, including eggs and fatty fish, such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel.
Vitamin D Deficiency
Is common worldwide.
A person can check their vitamin D levels themselves with an at-home vitamin D test, and many of these tests are of the same quality as those that medical professionals use. It will also look at when a person might consider getting medical advice on vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D deficiency Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that the body needs to carry out vital functions, such as maintaining bones and teeth and helping the immune system fight bacteria and viruses.
Doctors measure vitamin D deficiencies in nanomoles per liter (nmol/l) or nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml).
Ask A Laboratory Scientist
The chemical structures of the types of vitamin D are slightly different, and they are named vitamin D 2 (ergocalciferol, which comes from plants) and vitamin D 3 (cholecalciferol, which comes from animals). The D 2 form is found in fortified foods and in most vitamin preparations and supplements.
Vitamin D 2 and D 3 are equally effective when they are converted by the liver and the kidney into the active form, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D.
Some tests do not distinguish D 2 and D 3 forms of the vitamin and report only the total result. Newer methods, however, may report levels of both D 2 and D 3 and then add them together for a total level. Vitamin D is vital for the growth and health of bone; without it, bones will be soft, malformed, and unable to repair themselves normally, resulting in diseases called rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.
Vitamin D has also been shown to influence the growth and differentiation of many other tissues and to help regulate the immune system. These other functions have implicated vitamin D in other disorders, such as autoimmunity and cancer. People at higher risk of deficiency include the elderly or obese people, people who don’t get enough sun exposure, people with darker skin, and people who take certain medications for long periods of time.
Adequate sun exposure is typically estimated to be two periods per week of 5-20 minutes.
A Quick Look At The 4 Best At-Home Vitamin D Tests
E useful for our readers.