National Drug Safety Publicity Week | Top Ten Drug Use Tips for the Public: Vitamin D needs to be supplemented scientifically, and both deficiency and excess are not advisable

Vitamin D plays a wide range of roles in human health, and is particularly important for musculoskeletal health. It promotes intestinal calcium absorption, mineralizes newly formed bone-like tissue, and plays an important role in muscle function.

Testing serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25-(OH)VD] is the best indicator of the level of vitamin D reserves in the body. The reference values ​​of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D in the Chinese adult population are as follows:

Vitamin D deficiency in adults can lead to osteoporosis, which can cause falls and fractures. Vitamin D3 is the first choice for treatment; when vitamin D3 cannot be used, vitamin D2 can also be used. Oral administration is recommended first, followed by parenteral administration. The dosage should be individualized, and the physician should formulate a loading dose and maintenance dose treatment plan, and adjust it according to the clinical response.

Vitamin D is not the more the better. Intake of large doses in a short period of time or long-term use of excessive doses of vitamin D can lead to severe poisoning reactions, causing hypercalcemia, systemic vascular calcification, renal calcium precipitation and other soft tissue calcification. Hypercalcemic crisis is a serious condition, and patients may die from renal failure or cardiac arrest. For normal people, doing more outdoor exercise and getting more sun can help promote the synthesis of vitamin D, and no additional supplementation is needed. Only patients who are deficient in vitamin D and have corresponding symptoms need to supplement it by taking medication. After the vitamin D deficiency is corrected, a balanced diet and outdoor exercise should still be used as the main supplement to avoid poisoning and harm caused by long-term or large-dose supplementation of vitamin D.