Question: How can I get Vitamin D without sun exposure? What are the recommended food to get Vitamin D? Where can I get quality Vitamin D supplements?
I recommend patients get their Vitamin D through both diet and nutritional supplementation. Even if they tried to get it through sun exposure, which I do NOT recommend, they would never get the proper amount due to the as we are living to far away from the equator, and with the pollution levels, they simply cannot achieve the desired amount through conversion in the skin. Thus, good sources of nutrition include fatty fish such as salmon, tuna and mackerel. Also egg yolks contain high levels of Vitamin D. Orange juice and dairy sources such as cheese are a rich source of Vitamin D.
I also recommend my patients check their Vitamin D serum levels so that they know exactly level we are dealing with. Most patients are far below the lab reference range of 30-100. I explain that the reference range is simply a range compiled from all lab samples including unhealthy patients with diabetes, high blood pressure and nutritional deficiencies so that we do not strive to fall in the reference range, but rather strive to fall in the optimal range of 60-80 when speaking in terms of Vitamin D. Thus, if they are in the single digits when it comes to their Vitamin D serum levels, I may recommend they supplement with 10,000 units of a quality Vitamin D orally for 90 days, and then we will recheck their serum value and determine whether to continue at that same dose or lower it to a maintenance dose of 5,000 units.
Fullscripts is our preferred website for all quality nutritional supplements. The FDA does not closely regulate nutritional supplements for bioavailability in this country, as it does the manufacture of prescription medications. However, each manufacturer of nutritional supplements on this website is considered to be of outstanding quality. To name only a very few of these quality supplement manufacturers —Douglas Labs, Metagenics, Orthomolecular, Pure Encapsulations and Nordic Naturals, especially for children.
Dr. Ellen Turner is a double board-certified dermatologist with practices in Dallas and Irving, Texas. She specializes in medical and cosmetic dermatology, as well as anti-aging and regenerative medicine.
To schedule an appointment, please call 214-373-7546.