When choosing a vitamin D supplement, do you know which form to buy and which to avoid?
When you go shopping for a vitamin D supplement you only need to remember one letter and one number: D3.
Anything else is not worth your time or money.
My colleague at Northstar Nutritionals, Becky Jacob, sent me the results of a new study that clearly confirms the question about the best form of vitamin D.
At Nebraska’s Creighton University, healthy middle-aged adults were given 50,000 IU per week of either vitamin D3 or D2.
Results: After just 12 weeks, D3 supplementation boosted liver storage of vitamin D by a whopping two to three times more than the D2 supplements.
One of the factors that makes this measurement so important is vitamin fortification of foods. Not only are scant amounts used for fortification, but the D2 form is used just as commonly as D3. So don’t let anyone tell you that fortification ensures complete nutrition. Self-fortification is the only kind you can depend on.
And how much D3 do you actually need? More than you might think. Find out here.
Sources:
“Vitamin D3 ’87 percent more potent’ than D2: Study” Stephen Daniells, NutraIngredients-USA, 1/11/11, nutraingredients-usa.com
