Vitamin D

[Lion]

Hello Jordan,

I live in the land of polar bears, igloos and hockey, aka Canada. The winters are long, and it's easy to lack the required sun exposure to get enough vitamin D. Do you know a certain food that can fix that?

Thank you

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Can you just eat whale blubber and sea lions?

Other than that, fish, milk, and/or some liquid vitamin D3. If you're taking vitamin d3, just do 1000-3000iu/day depending on your needs, which will depend on your genetic heritage :-)

[Lion]

Thanks for the info Jordan, I'll go hunt whales and sea lions as a warmup for my squats

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Make sure you snap a pic doing an overhead squat with one, send it over to CrossFit and revel in your eleetness.

[quikky]

Why not test your vitamin D levels? That can help gauge how much, if any, you need. You can also re-test after you've been supplementing with it, to see if the dosage is right. From what I've read 1,000-3,000 IUs of D3 per day is too low for someone who gets minimal sunlight exposure and wants to have optimal D3 levels.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Yea you would want to test your 25-OH levels, if possible, that would be the best. 1-3000iu of D3 administered daily may or may not be the correct dosing depending on a bunch of factors, including genetics. It appears that vitamin D levels are on some sort of bell curve for optimal levels, i.e. some populations do well with "lower" end of values and thus need less, if any, supplementation, vs. some people who need really high levels for the same effect. I personally think vitamin D supplementation is the second best way to get vitamin D if you can get sun at the appropriate intensity...

[quikky]

Yea you would want to test your 25-OH levels, if possible, that would be the best. 1-3000iu of D3 administered daily may or may not be the correct dosing depending on a bunch of factors, including genetics. It appears that vitamin D levels are on some sort of bell curve for optimal levels, i.e. some populations do well with "lower" end of values and thus need less, if any, supplementation, vs. some people who need really high levels for the same effect. I personally think vitamin D supplementation is the second best way to get vitamin D if you can get sun at the appropriate intensity...

Yeah, it's actually pretty interesting how it works out. Vitamin D Council has some good information on dosage too:

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about...pplementation/

...If anyone is interested.

[Lion]

Is there a simple way to test my 25-oh levels or do I have to go to the doctor and get my blood tested?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Doctor or a lab.

[quikky]

I've heard Direct Labs is good, I was going to try them out next time I get some tests done. You don't need to go through a doctor to get tests done with them.