Vitamin D – how to take it for maximum benefits

With Vitamin D for supporting your immune system being a hot topic of conversation recently, you might wonder how you can get involved and start supporting yourself with this helpful supplement. Here I explain exactly what you should be taking and how much in order to get the maximum benefits.

Vitamin D – how to take it for maximum benefits

There is a raft of evidence now available highlighting the benefits that vitamin D can have for the immune system. But not everyone is aware that to get the maximum benefits, you should take vitamin D as follows:

Before you get ill.
In a sensible dose
With food
Every day

Throughout this blog, I explain why these details are so important in the hope that you finish reading feeling prepared to start getting the most out of vitamin D!

1. Before you get ill

Prevention is key so, wherever possible, we should do our best to follow a healthy diet and lifestyle and support our system with the necessary supplements. This helps to prevent nutrient deficiencies cropping up and ill health taking hold, plus it keeps any of these associated symptoms from bothering us in the future.

When it comes to vitamin D, whilst the jury is still out on whether or not large, therapeutic doses are really helpful in certain circumstances, we believe that prevention is key and, therefore, you should consider taking a low dose supplement of vitamin D to help prevent deficiencies, rather than be forced to take higher doses once a deficiency actually takes hold. One area of relevance, in this respect, is immune health - and a recent study in this field has certainly sparked my interest.

This new research looked at how people who had recently become ill with respiratory-type symptoms faired depending on their vitamin D status. Whilst there may be some confounding factors (which means some other areas of that person's life may also be having an impact) some interesting patterns certainly emerged and shouldn't be ignored.¹

Interestingly, the study design involved the researchers looking at 3 groups of people: those who had protected themselves already by taking a low dose supplement over a period of time; a group who were given a high dose vitamin D supplement after falling ill; and, finally, those who hadn't had any exposure to any extra vitamin D at all.

The results were pretty telling in that taking vitamin D preventively was the clear winner. This group had much better outcomes in terms of their recovery from infection.¹ Unfortunately, taking a larger dose of vitamin D once already ill could be considered as 'too little, too late' as this group didn't seem to experience much more of an improvement when compared to those who hadn't taken any vitamin D at all.

2. A sensible dose

At A.Vogel, as a result of our naturopathic, not to mention holistic roots (that we are very proud of), mega-high doses of any supplement don't tend to sit well with us. Now luckily, especially in terms of vitamin D, science has started to back this idea.
So, as with the research1 mentioned above, even taking an extremely high dose of vitamin D didn't seem to help much if you were unfortunate enough to have fallen ill already. Therefore, it seems much more sensible, and much more likely that your body can cope with and make use of, a very moderate dose of vitamin D instead.

How much should I take?

Therefore, in line with the government advice, we don't recommend taking any more than 10µg, or 400iu of vitamin D daily.

Remember, vitamin D is fat-soluble so this means you're able to store it over time in your body. Therefore, for us, small and steady wins the race.

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3. With food

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble nutrient so, like some other fat-soluble nutrients including vitamin A, E or K, it is best taken alongside some food, especially some healthy-fat-rich foods, in order to improve its bio-availability and uptake.
Now, if you're wondering which fats to opt for, I would suggest something as simple as healthy oils such as olive oil, coconut or avocado oil. The healthy fatty acids these foods contain are perfect for helping to facilitate the absorption of vitamin D into your system.
Watch my self-care tip video on this topic, below, for more info:

My Self-Care Tip: Take vitamin D supplements alongside food

Here I explain why vitamin D supplements will be better absorbed when taken alongside some fat-containing foods.

4. Every day

As backed by this new research, the key is clearly to take vitamin D consistently but at a low dose. Taking regular supplements at a low dose helps to create a more natural setting by which your body should be getting its nutrients – i.e. with food! This is why you're more likely to make better use of your supplements this way, as your body is much better designed to cope with them. This, and of course using natural, food-state supplements, such as in our Immune Support, wherever possible.
My advice is to get into a routine of taking your supplements. Taking them as you need them at the same time each day, so you don't risk forgetting.
Remember, as with any supplement, you don't necessarily need to take everything, indefinitely. However, when you are keen to take a specific nutrient, say, for a few months at a time, (ideally, before assessing your need for this once more), consistency is definitely key.