Vitamin D, 25-OH
Reads: Vitamin D status
The mr literature is a cautionary case: bidirectional mr supports causal relationships with psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and vitiligo, while a vitamin D dose-response mr for coronary heart disease, stroke and all-cause mortality is listed as retracted.
What this marker reads
A hormone misfiled as a vitamin. And the finding that governs every claim on it here: the updated meta-analysis of vitamin D for acute respiratory infection — adding 20 further RCTs and 62,063 participants to the earlier individual-participant analysis — returned a 95% confidence interval that now includes 1.00, meaning no statistically significant protection overall. What survives is the stratification: the effect was stronger in those starting with lower vitamin D, and with daily or weekly dosing rather than widely spaced bolus doses. Correcting a shortfall and topping up someone already replete are different acts.
What a named body publishes
Each line below is the sentence the issuing body wrote, carried with its own identifier. Nothing here interprets your result — it states what was published, for whom, and by whom.
25-hydroxyvitamin D
“Serum 25(OH)D below 30 nmol/L is 'Associated with vitamin D deficiency, which can lead to rickets in infants and children and osteomalacia in adults'.”
Vitamin D — Health Professional Fact Sheet · NIH Office of Dietary Supplements The document
“Serum 25(OH)D below 12 ng/mL is 'Associated with vitamin D deficiency, which can lead to rickets in infants and children and osteomalacia in adults'.”
Vitamin D — Health Professional Fact Sheet · NIH Office of Dietary Supplements The document
“Serum 25(OH)D of 30 to less than 50 nmol/L is 'Generally considered inadequate for bone and overall health in healthy individuals'.”
Vitamin D — Health Professional Fact Sheet · NIH Office of Dietary Supplements The document
“Serum 25(OH)D of 12 to less than 20 ng/mL is 'Generally considered inadequate for bone and overall health in healthy individuals'.”
Vitamin D — Health Professional Fact Sheet · NIH Office of Dietary Supplements The document
“Serum 25(OH)D of 50 nmol/L and above is 'Generally considered adequate for bone and overall health in healthy individuals'; the page's text adds that 'Levels of 50 nmol/L (20 ng/mL) or more are sufficient for most people'.”
Vitamin D — Health Professional Fact Sheet · NIH Office of Dietary Supplements The document
“Serum 25(OH)D of 20 ng/mL and above is 'Generally considered adequate for bone and overall health in healthy individuals'.”
Vitamin D — Health Professional Fact Sheet · NIH Office of Dietary Supplements The document
“Serum 25(OH)D above 125 nmol/L is 'Linked to potential adverse effects, particularly at >150 nmol/L (>60 ng/mL)'.”
Vitamin D — Health Professional Fact Sheet · NIH Office of Dietary Supplements The document
“Serum 25(OH)D above 50 ng/mL is 'Linked to potential adverse effects, particularly at >150 nmol/L (>60 ng/mL)'.”
Vitamin D — Health Professional Fact Sheet · NIH Office of Dietary Supplements The document
Your laboratory reads your result against its own assay, and this page does not do that for it. What is above is what a named body published and for whom; what is below is the machinery the marker reads and the formulas witnessed on it.
What moves it
Micronutrient status raises it.
https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.7556/jaoa.2018.037/html — Drawn from the reviews of this outcome. doi 10.7556/jaoa.2018.037/html
Kidney raises it.
10.1038/s41598-022-15033-9 — Drawn from the reviews of this outcome. doi 10.1038/s41598-022-15033-9
Digestion raises it.
NBK532266 — Drawn from the reviews of this outcome.
Liver raises it.
Verbatim: “Vitamin D is then converted by the liver to 25-hydroxyvitamin D, its major circulating form”. PMID 21034990
UV radiation raises it.
UVB photolyses 7-dehydrocholesterol in skin to previtamin D3, the first step of vitamin D synthesis. doi 10.2340/00015555-3050
What it moves
It raises Muscle.
10.3390/nu11081800 — Drawn from the reviews of this outcome. doi 10.3390/nu11081800
It raises Bone health.
PMC3257679 — Drawn from the reviews of this outcome. PMC3257679
It lowers Joint wear.
All nine included studies reported a negative correlation between vitamin D level and chronic rhinosinusitis; vitamin D deficiency also causes airway hyperresponsiveness (doi 10.7759/cureus.55955; PMC4002254; PMC5646812). REFUTED ON A SECOND READING. This link was shown by linked steps until a source was opened that does not support it: “All of the included studies reported a negative correlation between levels of vitamin D and CRS.” — The Correlation Between Vitamin D Deficiency and Chronic Rhinosinusitis: A Systematic Review. Cureus, 2024, 16(3), e55955. doi 10.7759/cureus.55955 · PMC4002254
It lowers Clears blocked nose & sinuses.
All nine included studies reported a negative correlation between vitamin D level and chronic rhinosinusitis; vitamin D deficiency also causes airway hyperresponsiveness. doi 10.7759/cureus.55955 · PMC4002254
It lowers Eases allergy load.
All nine included studies reported a negative correlation between vitamin D level and chronic rhinosinusitis; vitamin D deficiency also causes airway hyperresponsiveness. doi 10.7759/cureus.55955 · PMC4002254
It raises Micronutrient status.
10.3390/nu11081800 — Drawn from the reviews of this outcome. doi 10.3390/nu11081800
It raises Resists infection.
The headline on this pathway is a disappointment and it must stay there: the lack of effect of prophylactic vitamin C supplementation on the incidence of common cold in normal populations throws doubt on the utility of this wide practice. Regular supplementation decreases cold duration by 8 percent (3-12) and severity by 15 percent (CI 9-21) - but does not reduce how often you get one. With one striking exception that defines WHO it works for: a subgroup of six studies of marathon runners, skiers, and soldiers exposed to significant cold AND/OR physical stress experienced, on average, 50 percent reduction in common cold incidence. Extreme physical stress is the condition under which it prevents. PMC10712193
It raises Skin.
10.3390/ijms22169097 — The aging outcome lists the thirteen hallmarks themselves, each mapped to its pathway and labeled with its hallmark number. (from the reviews of this outcome). doi 10.3390/ijms22169097
It raises Vision.
Why the retina is the most oxidatively stressed tissue in the body, stated directly: the retina is highly susceptible to oxidative damage due to its elevated oxygen consumption, abundant polyunsaturated fatty acids, and continuous exposure to light. Three risk factors that cannot be separated from its function. And the aging failure is specific and double: in the elderly both the mitophagic process and Nrf2 activation ARE impaired, thus causing retinal cell death. The carotenoid case is unusually mechanical: lutein and zeaxanthin ARE selectively taken up by the RPE, preferentially accumulated in the human macula, and transferred to photoreceptors - a targeted delivery route, not a general antioxidant claim. The Eye Disease Case-Control Study found high plasma levels of lutein and zeaxanthin associated with reduced risk of neovascular AMD. By contrast the reviewers say the relationships between dietary and serum levels of the antioxidant vitamins and age-related macular disease ARE less clear - with alpha-tocopherol the exception, convincingly demonstrated. Lipofuscin is itself a photoreactive substance - the waste product becomes a new damage source (PMC12026614; PMC11274723; PMC6230566; doi 10.3390/antiox14101251; PMID 11033038). REFUTED ON A SECOND READING. This link was shown by linked steps until a source was opened that does not support it: “No significant differences were found, but there appears to exist a trend for late AMD among subjects with a serum 25(OH)D level below 50 nmol/L (odds ratio, 1.8; 95% confidence interval: 1.00-3.24, P = 0.05). There is no clear evidence of a definitive association between serum 25(OH)D and AMD risk, mainly due to heterogeneity in study procedures and lack of longitudinal designs.” — Serum vitamin D and age-related macular degeneration: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Survey of Ophthalmology, 2020, 66(2), 183-197. doi:10.1016/j.survophthal.2020.07.003. doi 10.3390/antiox14101251 · PMID 11033038 · PMC12026614
It raises Gum health.
The one measured finding among them is the periodontal-anemia link: a meta-analysis of sixteen studies on hemoglobin and iron metabolism in periodontitis, whose authors call the association still controversial and ask for larger cohorts. doi 10.1152/japplphysiol.00971.2016 · PMC7005133
Formulas that modulate it
Each formula page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
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