Vitamin D Deficiency Is Widely Overestimated, Doctors Warn

By AP
Posted on 11/11/16 | News Source: Fox News

Doctors are warning about vitamin D again, and it's not the "we need more" news you might expect. Instead, they say there's too much needless testing and too many people taking too many pills for a problem that few people truly have.

The nutrient is crucial for strong bones and may play a role in other health conditions, though that is far less certain. Misunderstandings about the recommended amount of vitamin D have led to misinterpretation of blood tests and many people thinking they need more than they really do, some experts who helped set the levels write in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine .

Correctly interpreted, less than 6 percent of Americans ages 1 to 70 are deficient and only 13 percent are in danger of not getting enough.

That's concerning, "but these levels of deficiency do not constitute a pandemic," the authors write.

Yet people may think there is one.

 Blood tests for vitamin D levels — not advised unless a problem like bone loss is suspected — are...read more at Fox News