I’ve written several articles on the importance of vitamin D. But I’ve never written about how to optimize vitamin D levels.
Given the recent studies showing how normal vitamin D levels help to reduce your risk for the CoVid19 virus, I thought it would be helpful to discuss how to optimize vitamin D levels.
(If you would prefer to view this information in a video format, then please click on my YouTube video below:)
The main body of work in this area comes from research by GrassrootsHealth. Here are several statements that they have made regarding this issue:
“combined intake of both supplemental magnesium and vitamin K2 has a greater effect on vitamin D levels than either individually.”
“those taking both supplemental magnesium and vitamin K2 have a higher vitamin D level for any given vitamin D intake amount than those taking either supplemental magnesium or vitamin K2 or neither.”
“. . . 244% more supplemental vitamin D was needed for 50% of the population to achieve 40 ng/ml (100nmol/L) for those not taking supplemental magnesium or vitamin K2 compared to those who usually took both supplemental magnesium and vitamin K2.”
So what does all this mean if you want to optimize vitamin D levels in your body?
Well, one of the first areas that we need to address is what level of vitamin D in your bloodstream is safe and effective.
While this ranges depending on who you read, most would agree that having 30 ng/ml or higher is beneficial. According to GrassrootsHealth, they would put the safe and effective range at 40 to 60 ng/ml.
Now if you want to optimize vitamin D levels, then you should combine your vitamin D with both magnesium and vitamin K2. It’s the combination of these three nutrients that results in the greatest increase in vitamin D levels in the bloodstream.
It also means that for most people, if you’re taking both magnesium and vitamin K2, then you can usually take half of the recommended amount of vitamin D3 to achieve the same result.
So how does this work?
If you use the recommended daily intake of 4000 IU of vitamin D3 that is on the Cleveland Clinic website, then you should be able to reduce this by half or 2000 IU to get comparable results.
Which begs the question how much magnesium and vitamin K2 do you need to consume?
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For men it would be 400 mg of magnesium and 120 mcg of vitamin K2 each day.
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For women it would be 300 mg of magnesium and 90 mcg of vitamin K2 per day.
In addition to this combination of magnesium with vitamin K2, there are a couple of other ways to optimize vitamin D levels in your body.
First, make sure you consume you vitamin D3 supplement with food, especially a meal that has fat in it. Because vitamin D3 is a fat-soluble vitamin it is best absorbed with fat.
Second, a good probiotic also helps with vitamin D3 absorption in the small intestine.
Third, the minerals boron and zinc can also aid in the absorption of vitamin D3.
Fourth, make sure you’re consuming vitamin D3 rather than vitamin D2. Vitamin D3 is animal sourced where as vitamin D2 is plant sourced. Unfortunately, your body has a hard time processing vitamin D2.
Fifth, watch your intake of vitamin A, which is also a fat-soluble vitamin. This vitamin will compete with vitamin D3 since both are fat-soluble vitamins. The best way to get the benefits of both is to consume beta carotene. Beta carotene will be converted by your body into vitamin A as needed. And since beta carotene is water-soluble it doesn’t interfere with your intake of vitamin D3.
If you want to explore this issue in more detail, then here are some excellent links to additional information in this area:
https://www.grassrootshealth.net/blog/causes-variability-vitamin-d-levels-response/
https://www.danhammerhealth.com/3-key-vitamins-for-the-immune-system
Blessing Lives Through Nitric Oxide Therapy!
Dan Hammer
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