Healthy adults under the age of 75 are unlikely to benefit from taking more than the daily intake of vitamin D recommended by the Institutes of Medicine (IOM) and do not require testing for vitamin D levels, according to a new Clinical Practice Guideline issued by the Endocrine Society. For children, pregnant people, adults older than 75 years and adults with high-risk prediabetes, the guideline recommends vitamin D higher than the IOM recommended daily allowance. Vitamin D use and blood vitamin D levels have been associated with many common diseases.
However, whether vitamin D supplementation lowers the risk of these diseases and what vitamin D blood levels are needed for better health have been debated for years. In this new guideline, the panel of experts established guidelines for vitamin D use and testing for vitamin D levels in healthy persons without established indications for vitamin D treatment or testing. The guideline relied on clinical trials to develop the recommendations.
The guideline, titled "Vitamin D for the Prevention of Disease: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline," was published online and will appear in the August 2024 print issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) . "The goal of this guideline was to address the vitamin D requirements for disease prevention in a generally healthy population with no underlying conditions that would put them at risk of impaired vitamin D absorption or action," said Marie Demay, M.D.
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