The Importance of Optimal Vitamin D

The Importance of Optimal Vitamin DVitamin D is vital for your body to effectively absorb and use iron. Optimizing Vitamin D levels is important because Vitamin D acts as a biological "switch" that regulates how your body utilizes the iron it receives.

• Suppression of Hepcidin (The Master Regulator): Vitamin D is a potent suppressor of hepcidin, the hormone that controls iron flow. Hepcidin’s job is to block iron absorption and release; Vitamin D directly reduces hepcidin, essentially "unlocking" the gates that allow iron to move into the bloodstream.   
  
• Support for Erythropoiesis: Vitamin D is directly involved in the production of red blood cells (erythropoiesis). Even if you have ample iron, your bone marrow needs adequate Vitamin D to efficiently turn that iron into new, healthy red blood cells.   
  

There has been debate on how much Vitamin D is safe, and if high levels of Vitamin D can cause kidney stones for years. Multiple studies have found that Vitamin D supplementation does not increase the risk of developing kidney stones. 
The medical consensus is  that Vitamin D deficiency is present at levels below 20, and severe deficiency occurs when levels are below 12. Lab values typically show 30 -75  is considered within normal. Functional medicine recommendations vary, with levels between 50 and 100. I encourage clients to work on getting levels to 50 or higher to make sure there is plenty of Vitamin D available for baby in the prenatal period. 
Sources:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31005969/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5241241/
https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/tb09j596c
https://www.thejh.org/index.php/jh/article/view/89