Last month the Institute of Medicine (IOM) produced a 500-plus page recommendation for the daily intake of Vitamin D that will affect our recommended daily allowance (RDA) of this nutrient.

Since most of this is a bit confusing, I thought we'd break it down for you to make it easier to understand and explain who it applies to.

Let's start with the previous recommendation that was issued in 1997 and was recently updated November 30, 2010.

Institute of Medicines Previous Vitamin D Recommendations

IOMs New Recommendation on D

For some of us these numbers seem rather low because we are either extremely D deficient or just deficient and our doctor has us on a much higher dose.  When a patient is put on a higher dose of D than what's listed above it's because our circulating D test scores fall below the ˂ 30 ng/mL amount.

For those who've been following the above recommendation, this is a step in the right direction since it is increasing the amount we need to take.

The IOM did not address the amounts a high risk patient should take, so those on a therapeutic dose, that is much higher than what is recommended, should remain on that dose until your doctor changes the amount.

The upper tolerable limit (UTL) for this vitamin is now at 4,000 IUs a day.  If you are taking more than 4,000 IUs a day, you may be a high risk individual or your D levels are too low. Therapeutic doses are taken until you raise your vitamin D score to an acceptable score.  If you are concerned about this amount, talk to your doctor and have a vitamin D test done to see where you stand on your vitamin D score.

Since vitamin D is difficult to get from our diet, most need to supplement with oral D.  The things that contain vitamin D are: fortified foods, fatty fish and daily sun exposure.  If you are unable to get daily sun, due to your geographic location, then supplemental D is very important.

Many of the vitamin D experts do not agree with the IOM recommendations or the U.S. labs interpretation of a normal 25 (OH) D test result.  According to our labs, a normal score is anything between 30 and 100 ng/mL.

Osteoporosis Foundations That Differ From the IOM on Vitamin D

• The National Osteoporosis Foundations recommendations on D are:

                  Those over the age of 50 should take 800-1,000 IUs a day

                  Those 19 to 49 should take 400 to 800 IUs of vitamin D a day

• Osteoporosis Canada:

                  Those over the age of 50 should take 800-2,000 IUs a day