Vitamin D Profile

Vitamins are essential nutrients for our body. They are responsible for keeping our body healthy and strong. Vitamins help our body to perform hundreds of bodily functions. Vitamin helps to strengthen our bones, boost our physical growth and development, heal wounds, bolster our immune system, repair cellular damage and also convert food into energy. There are 13 essential vitamins, which are needed for our body to work properly. They include vitamins A, C, D, E, K, B1, B2, B3, B5, B7, B6, B12, etc. Vitamins are known as micronutrients because our body requires only tiny amounts of them. However, failing to get those little quantities to affect our body negatively. One of the most important vitamins for our body is vitamin D. It is a fat-soluble vitamin, which is responsible for performing several important functions. Hence, it is important to ensure that our body does not suffer from vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D test helps to find out the levels of vitamin D in our body.

Vitamin D test is the best way to monitor the levels of vitamin D in our body. This is basically a blood test, which highlights the measure of vitamin D in our blood. This helps to know how much vitamin D our body has. Based on the reports of the vitamin D test, doctors can tell whether vitamin D levels in our body are too low or normal or too high.

Vitamin D is also known as ‘sunshine vitamin’. It is produced in the human body using sunlight. Also, there are certain foods that are rich in vitamin D, such as fish, milk, yoghurt, tofu, orange juice, eggs, etc. These foods can be added to our daily diet along with few supplements to ensure that there are adequate levels of vitamin D in our body. Vitamin D performs several important functions in our body. This vitamin helps our body to absorb calcium and phosphorus as well as facilitate normal immune system function. We need an adequate amount of vitamin D for strong teeth and healthy bones. Vitamin D helps in losing excess body weight as well as reduces the risk of certain diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Vitamin D deficiency, on the other hand, increases the risk of developing bone diseases such as osteoporosis and osteomalacia. Also, deficiency of vitamin D is associated with rickets, a dangerous bone disease. Hence, it is very important to maintain the right levels of vitamin D in our body.

Vitamin D test is a great tool to find out whether our body is suffering from vitamin D deficiency. The test includes three parameters – Vitamin D Total, Vitamin D2 and Vitamin D3. In our bloodstream, vitamin D2 and D3 are transformed into a form of vitamin D, known as 25 hydroxyvitamin D, also called 25(OH)D. Hence this vitamin D test is also called 25 hydroxyvitamin D test. Here blood samples are collected to estimate the levels of 25 hydroxyvitamin D or 25(OH)D in our blood.

Normally, vitamin D levels are measured in nanomoles/litre or nanograms/millilitre.
* Less than 30 nanomoles/litre or 12 nanograms/millilitre indicates vitamin D deficiency.
* Levels of vitamin D between 30 nanomoles/litre (12 nanograms/millilitre) and 50 nanomoles/liter (20 nanograms/milliliter) indicates potential deficiency.
* Levels of vitamin D between 50 nanomoles/liter (20 nanograns/milliliter) and 125 nanomoles/liter (50 nanograms/milliliter) are normal.
* Higher than 125 nanomoles/litre or 50 nanograms/millilitre indicates high levels of vitamin D.

Low levels of vitamin D usually mean that you are not spending enough time outside to absorb an adequate amount of vitamin D from sun exposure, or your diet lacks proper nutritional balance or your intestines are not absorbing the vitamin from the foods properly. High levels of vitamin D are normally the result of consuming too many vitamin supplements as well as other nutritional supplements, which contain vitamin D. If vitamin D test report indicates high levels of vitamin D in the blood, the condition is called hypervitaminosis D. This is a rare condition, but it can increase the risk of liver and kidney problems.

However, there are certain things to remember regarding the measure of vitamin D that comes in the test report. The levels of vitamin D can vary with seasons. It has been seen that vitamin D levels are found lower in winter than in summer. Additionally, the presence of sunlight, latitude, skin pigmentation, using sunscreen, sex, age, testing method, etc. can influence vitamin D levels in our body. Also, the levels of vitamin D increase during pregnancy.

Thyrocare Technologies Limited, India’s first fully automated diagnostic laboratory, focuses on providing quality service at affordable costs. They have introduced a great package of vitamin D test, that include three test parameters – Vitamin D3, Vitamin D2 and Vitamin D Total. These tests help to estimate the levels of vitamin D in the blood. The package comes at a very affordable cost.

Why get Tested for Vitamin D Profile

Vitamin D, as we already said, is a vital nutrient for our body. This vitamin performs a number of tasks, including enabling our body to absorb calcium and phosphorus from our diet. These two minerals, in turn, strengthen our teeth and bones. Also vitamin D is important for proper functioning of immune system, brain and nervous system. Additionally, vitamin D helps with diabetes management and supports cardiovascular health. Hence, it is very important to measure the levels of vitamin D in our body and ensure that we are not at a risk of vitamin D deficiency.

According to researches, deficiency of vitamin D can increase the risk of certain diseases. They are cardiovascular diseases, neurological diseases, pregnancy complications, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, infections and certain types of cancers, specially, breast cancer, colon cancer and prostate cancer. To prevent all such health complications, it is important to maintain the adequate levels of vitamin D in our body.

Vitamin D test helps to assess whether the levels of vitamin D are too low or normal in our body. Vitamin D is essential for strong bones. Any deficiency of vitamin D can cause bone pain, muscle weakness and conditions like osteoporosis and osteomalacia. Basically low levels of vitamin D make our bones soft and weak and increase the risk of bone fracture. To avoid these, we must maintain adequate levels of vitamin D in our body. And vitamin D levels can be checked only by undergoing vitamin D test.

If you have been advised to take vitamin D supplements, then the doctor will ask you to undergo a vitamin D test at regular intervals to check how the treatment is going. Vitamin D test is also required to check the malfunction of parathyroid glands because the parathyroid hormone is essential for the activation of vitamin D.

When to get Tested for Vitamin D Profile

You might be asked to undergo a vitamin D test if your doctor notices any symptoms of vitamin D deficiency. Some of the common symptoms of vitamin D deficiency are – weak bones, soft bones, bone pain, weak muscles, fatigue, rickets (bone malformation) in children, bone fractures, etc. If you have been diagnosed with osteoporosis, your doctor might ask you to undergo a Vitamin D test to assess the amount of vitamin D in your bloodstream.

Vitamin D test is also recommended for those who are at a higher risk of suffering from vitamin D deficiency. People who don’t get much sun exposure, older adults, obese people, those who have had gastric bypass surgery etc can potentially suffer from vitamin D deficiency and must undergo vitamin D test. Certain diseases of our digestive system like inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, kidney disease, liver disease, pancreatitis etc actually damage our body’s ability to use vitamin D. If you have been diagnosed with any of these, then you must undergo Vitamin D test to check the levels of vitamin D in your body. Vitamin D test is required before starting osteoporosis therapy.

Preparation for Vitamin D Profile

Any special preparations is not required for a Thyroid blood test. Fasting is not essential for thyroid test.

Vitamin D is essential for our body. Deficiency of vitamin D can trigger many serious health problems, such as bones problem, diabetes, heart problems, depression, etc. Therefore, it is important to maintain the right amount of vitamin D in our body. Whether we are suffering from vitamin D deficiency or not, can only be diagnosed through a vitamin D test. If the test reports suggest that you are vitamin D deficient, your doctor might suggest you supplements and provide other treatment options to keep a stable level of vitamin D.