Vitamin D Testing BC Guidelines.ca
Most (all?) of Canada and many other countries, has been see a huge increase in vitamin D tests and has greatly limited tests so as to reduce short-term costs
Govts ignore that Vitamin D levels have been crashing
Tests for Vitamin D contains the following overview/opinion
- Fact: Many countries no longer pay for more than 1 (some not pay for even a single Vit D test)
They feel that Vit D testing is not needed except for a few conditions (Rickets, etc) Japan is an exception - Fact: Vit D tests are not very accurate
The best lab tests have accuracies and repeatabilities of +-5 ng
Many lab tests have accuracies and repeatabilities of +- 10 ng - or worse
Vitamin D deficiency of a group - 15% to 48% - Fact: Low-cost office/home Vit D tests are available around the world (not US as of 2018)
Low-cost 35 ng Y/N test by Nanospeed
Low-cost Vitamin D testers (about 13 dollars in quantity) – Feb 2018 Nanospeed
Quick, free, self test for deficiency - Fact: 3 major Vit D gene problems are not noticed by Vit D tests
~ 20% of people have poor Vit D genes
Hint that Vit D not getting to cells: Vit D related diseases run in your family
Another hint - you have one of the 40 diseases which are 2X more likely if have poor genes - Fact: A Vit D test will rarely (<1 in 1000) indicate that you are getting too much
- Opinion: If only getting a single test, wait till after supplementing with Vit D
3 months after starting a maintenance dose or 4 weeks after a loading dose
They also incorrectly state that " Adequate vitamin D can be made endogenously by careful exposure of the arms and legs to sunlight for 10-15 minutes per day in the summer months:
No – 10 minutes per day of sun-UVB is NOT enough contains the following summary
- 5-10 minutes provides only 1,000 IU ONLY IF you are near the equator
- AND young
- AND not obese
- AND have light skin
- AND it is summer
- AND it is the middle of the day
- AND you have lots of skin exposed to the sun
- AND you are lying down
- AND you are not wearing sunscreen
- AND you have a healthy Liver
- AND no clouds and nor air pollution
- AND you have good response to sunshine (4X variation between individuals)
“Vitamin D testing is only covered under the BC Medical Services Plan (MSP) when the patient is <19 years or when the test is ordered by a specialist.”
“The test may be considered in the following clinical scenarios:3
significant liver disease
significant renal disease
osteomalacia
osteopenia or osteoporosis
history of non-traumatic (“fragility”) fractures
malabsorption syndromes
hypo- or hypercalcemia/hyperphosphatemia
hypo- or hyperparathyroidism
medications affecting vitamin D metabolism
(e.g. phenobarbital, carbamazepine, phenytoin and valproate)
unexplained elevation of alkaline phosphatase
high dose vitamin D combined with evidence of vitamin D toxicity