Vitamin D Test
24 Hydroxy Vitamin D3 Test
- This test is meant to measure the level of Vitamin D3 in your body.
- No special preparation is required. The test is done through blood taken from the vein.
- This test would provide a number for the quantity of Vitamin D3.
What is Vitamin D ?
Vitamin D is one of the most important Vitamin in the body. Till recently this Vitamin was rarely tested as it was assumed that everybody would have sufficient levels of Vitamin D in their body. This vitamin is formed in the body when ultraviolet rays from the sun fall on the skin which has liquified cholesterol underneath. This process results in the making of Cholecholciferol also known as Vitamin D3. Another form of Vitamin D which is made in the plants is called Ergocalciferol or Vitamin D2. Vitamin D is calcium channel regulator and helps in guiding the calcium in your blood towards the making of healthy bones. If you have vitamin D deficiency then calcium will not move towards the bones but will go to all other parts of the body like brain, heart and cause problems.
Vitamin D Deficiency – Causes
People who live in polluted cities and have dark skins do not make sufficient Vitamin D and need to take supplements. Indians have both these issues. Our cities are extremely polluted which prevent the ultraviolet rays from the sun reaching to our skin. Even if the ultraviolet rays reach us, we need to have liquefied cholesterol for the skin to make vitamin D. The cholesterol gets liquefied when you run or walk for some time. In order to produce sufficient amount of vitamin D you need to have white skin, run for 30 minutes in the morning around 9 am, expose most of your body skin and have no pollution. In India we have none of these conditions and therefore most of the Indians have Vitamin D deficiency. The doctors started testing Vitamin D in Indian patients only in the last 5-7 years and the results are astounding. You must get your vitamin D levels checked and then start taking supplements if the levels are low. At Maurya Labs more than 500 Vitamin D tests are done daily of which close to 85% are found to be deficient in Vitamin D
Reported Parameters
Vitamin D 25, Hydroxy – Vitamin D3 is made by our skin and also sourced from animal food. Vitamin D2 is sourced from plant diet. We measure the level of Vitamin D25 Hydroxy which is made by the liver from both Vitamin D3 and Vitamin D2.
All The Questions that you might have
- What is Vitamin D Test ?
- Who should get the Vitamin D Test done ?
- How to interpret the results of Vitamin D Test ?
- How to increase Vitamin D Levels ?
- Which foods contain Vitamin D ?
- What are the diseases caused by Vitamin D Deficiency ?
Vitamin D test measures the level of 25 Hydroxy Vitamin D in your blood. The test is done by drawing blood from the vein. Our body makes Vitamin D3 when our skin gets exposed to the sunshine. We get Vitamin D2 from plant diet and Vitamin D3 from non-veg food.
More than 90% of Indians are deficient in Vitamin D due to inadequate exposure to sun, dark skin and polluted environment. This means that everybody should get their Vitamin D levels checked. People with the following symptoms should definitely get this test done :
- Body pain
- General fatigue
- Feeling of being unwell
- Weak bones
- Hair Loss
- Impaired wound healing
- Anxiety or Irritability
There is difference of opinion amongst the experts about the adequate levels of Vitamin D in the body. This test measures the level of vitamin D in the blood. 25-hydroxyvitamin D is measured in either nanomoles per liter (nmol/L) or nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL). The two units are co-related, one nmol/L is equal to 0.4 ng/mL Most of the experts believe that having less than 50 nmol/L is severe deficiency and you need to take supplements for Vitamin D. The different ranges for Vitamin D test are as follows :
Vitamin D Result in nmol/L
- <50 Severe deficiency
- 50-74 Mild to Moderate deficiency
- 75-250 Optimum Level
- > 250 Toxic
If you are an Indian living in the polluted Indian cities then the chances of getting sufficient Vitamin D through sunshine are next to impossible. We are mostly vegetarians or light non-vegetarians so the chances of getting Vitamin D through food are also slim. Eating too much oily non-vegetarian food is also not good for the heart. Our best chance of keeping optimum levels of Vitamin D is to depend on supplements. Vitamin D is fat soluble and one must take Cholecalciferol with milk or ghee on empty stomach. Ideal dose of Vitamin D supplement for most of the adults is 60,000 International Units (IU) per week or as per the advice of your doctor based on the report of your Vitamin D test.
Some foods contain Vitamin D naturally while some of the foods are fortified with Vitamin D. Some sources of Vitamin D are
- Oily fish
- Red meat
- Liver or Kaleji as we call it
- Egg yolks
- Fortified foods like breakfast cereals
Not sufficient research has been done on the diseases caused by Vitamin D Deficiency. For long it was believed that Vitamin D deficiency causes weaker bones and diseases like Rickets in children. However lately many diseases seem to be linked with Vitamin D deficiency but more research needs to be done to establish the exact cause and effect of Vitamin D deficiency on our health. Vitamin D Deficiency is linked to the presence of following diseases in the body :
- Heart Disease
- Cancer
- Osteoporosis
- Osteomalacia
- Diabetes
- Erectile Dysfunction
- Dementia
- Scizophrenia
- Depression and Anxiety
