Vitamin D Who needs It?

There is been a lot of push lately for the supplementation of vitamin D.  The sun is considered an enemy to our health in many ways. Most Americans are advised to consider taking a vitamin D supplement. According to recent study highlighted in a online article, it can be difficult to determine whether your vitamin D supplement is actually worth the investment. A new analysis of looking at an excess of 17,000 patients found no difference in mortality rates for people who had vitamin D levels that were between 20 and 40 ng/mL of blood .and this is the range the most people fall into. These recent findings from an Institute of Medicine committee which stated that vitamin D levels that were over 20 ng/mL of blood were enough for most people which contrasted the previous cutoff which was 30 ng/mL. “A lot of people may not require vitamin D supplementation,” says Holly Kramer, MD, lead researcher on the study and associate professor at Loyola University. According to Kramer’s analysis, nearly 80 million people would no longer be considered to have insufficient vitamin D levels. “I actually don’t supplement a lot of people anymore because most of my patients have a level between 20-30ng/ml,” says Dr. Kramer. To make matters more confusing, there are a multitude of continuous studies that support the idea that elevating your vitamin D intake could raise your mortality by as much as 8 to 15% according to one professor of medicine at Boston University Medical Center. While extra vitamin D could be beneficial, there are no definitive studies to prove it. In conclusion most believe that extra D especially during the winter months when most people do not get as much sunshine could have health benefits and for the majority of Americans will not pose serious health risk. The Endocrine Society recommends that most adults get 1,500-2,000 IU a day of vitamin D. Dr. Seify reminds patients that although vitamin D is absorbed into the body through sunshine, it is important to protect the skin from excessive sun exposure. Overexposure to the sun can also cause wrinkles, dry skin, and affect the overall texture of the skin. Dr. Seify offers medical grade skin care treatments within his practice through his on-site medical spa. Patients are able to take advantage of medically supervised skin care treatments with the advantage of stronger more effective ingredients which in turn allows patients to have better longer-lasting results. All injectable services including Botox and fillers such as Juvederm and Restylane are performed by Dr. Seify so the patients can benefit from his surgical expertise combined with years of experience performing noninvasive anti-aging treatments. Patients are encouraged to use medical grade skin care as well as medical grade sunscreen products available through Dr. Seify’s experienced aesthetician within his med spa. Patients are encouraged to contact Dr. Seify’s office and schedule a consultation to determine the best recommendations for the healthiest skin possible.