Vitamin D – Fertility, Pregnancy Outcomes and Why You Are Probably NOT Getting Enough
What vitamin plays a critical roll in your fertility and a healthy pregnancy?
What vitamin is almost totally absent from our food supply?
What vitamin is the hidden cause of so much suffering that is so easy to treat?
The answer to all of these questions is vitamin D.
Vitamin D is essential for treating infertility, miscarriage, depression, muscle pain, immune issues, bone health, and much more.
Vitamin D – why is it essential for your fertility?
Several studies have proven that vitamin D is critical for a healthy pregnancy. Women with optimal levels of Vitamin D have a significantly higher rate of both getting pregnant and staying pregnant, resulting in more live births. Vitamin D acts like a hormone to improve the maturation of eggs, and then regulates the immune system to help prevent miscarriage. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with fewer pregnancies, more miscarriages, and a higher risk for pregnancy complications including pre-eclampsia, preterm delivery, and C-sections.
Are your vitamin D levels supporting your fertility?
Over the last 15 years, I have tested almost every patient in my practice for vitamin D deficiency, and I have been shocked by the results. Almost everyone is deficient. What’s even more amazing is what happens when my patients’ vitamin D status reaches optimal levels. Having witnessed these changes, there’s no doubt in my mind: vitamin D is an incredible asset to your health and your fertility. Vitamin D improves your odds of getting pregnant and decreases the risk of a miscarriage.
Why are we so deficient in vitamin D?
Your body makes vitamin D when it’s exposed to sunlight. In fact, 80 to 100 percent of the vitamin D we need comes from the sun. The amount of sun exposure that makes our skin a bit red produces the equivalent of 10,000 to 25,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D in our bodies.
The problem is that most of us aren’t exposed to enough sunlight, due to the use of sunscreen, living in a northern climate, and not eating enough of the few natural dietary sources of vitamin D: fatty wild fish like mackerel, herring, and cod liver oil.
With all these causes of vitamin D deficiency, you can see why supplementing with enough of this vitamin is so important. Unfortunately, you aren’t really being told the right amount of vitamin D to take.
How much vitamin D do I need to support my fertility?
The government recommends 200 to 600 IU of vitamin D a day. This is the amount you need to prevent rickets, a disease caused by vitamin D deficiency. But the real question is: How much vitamin D do we need for OPTIMAL health and fertility?
The answer is: Much more than you think. Exactly how much is needed will vary from person to person. In our clinic, we test your vitamin D levels, take into account your health goals, and recommend a dosage that will be most effective, typically between 5,000 – 10,000 units a day of D3. Then we have you re-test your levels within a few months to see if they are improving, and we modify your dosage as needed. When we look at your test results, we not only want your levels to be in the normal lab range, we want them to be in the optimal range. While lab ranges can vary from lab to lab, an easy way to calculate the optimal range is by aiming for the middle of the lab’s normal range.
Is Vitamin D the missing ingredient to your health and fertility?
You can now see why I feel so passionately about vitamin D. This vitamin is critical for good health, fertility – both getting pregnant and preventing miscarriage – and successful pregnancy outcomes. So start aiming for optimal levels – and watch how your health and fertility improves.
If you live in our area and are looking for a provider to help you with your fertility, and vitamin D testing, please contact us or book online.
Please visit our protocol page here to learn more about our recommend vitamins and supplements.
Leslie Oldershaw, L.Ac.
Medical director
Fertility Acupuncturist East Bay
510-595-1175
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