Nutritional Vitamin D Facts
A low amount of Vitamin D in the diet has been linked to a number of health complications. In fact, over 1 billion people around the world have low levels of vitamin D, including the vast majority of people with kidney disease. The three ways of obtaining vitamin D is through sunlight, diet, or supplements.
The two forms of Vitamin D available as supplements are ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) and cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3). There is widespread consensus that cholecalciferol is the preferred way of replacing Vitamin D stores in the body. Cholecalciferol has been given safely to patients with kidney disease, even to patients on dialysis, with high calcium levels occurring very rarely.
Even among Nephrologists and Renal dietitians, there appears to still be some confusion over dietary Vitamin D (for example D3 or cholecalciferol) and activated Vitamin D products which require a prescription (for example Zemplar®, Hecterol®, calcitriol). It is important to realize that one does not replace the other, and the clinical evidence supports the idea that nutritional vitamin D is still very important in patients with advanced kidney disease- even if they are on an activated product.
For more information click on the links below:
- FAQs on Vitamin D
- The Importance of Nutritional Vitamin D in CKD
- Vitamin D use in Dialysis
- Vitamin D use in Kidney Disease
- Vitamin D3(cholecalciferol) versus D2 (ergocalciferol)
Holick, M. N Engl J Med 2007;357:266-81.