Hi I was diagnosed with vitamin d deficiency that was 20 mg and my Dr. said it is very low and he has given me vitamin d supplement for five days 60000iu two capsules per day and then once weekly and then said I will have to take it whole life cuz in India we can't get enough vitamin due to lack of outdoor activity. He said to me I will get it checked after one year, that what level is your after one year then will decide the dosage you need after one year. Now my question is to you is is it safe to take vitamin D whole life. Even my Dr. is also taking vitamin d for long time. But I am bit sceptical. Even I asked my Dr. many times then he said it is not harmful and he asked me to Google on vitamin D council. Please guide me.

Dr. Subhash TiwariGeneral Physician42yrs exp

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For vegetarian people vit d is not available in diet and they have to rely solely upon natural synthesis of it in the skin on exposure to sunlight. It is a fat soluble vitamin stored in liver enough for 6 months. To keep a normal level of above 30 nanogram/ml one has to give 60 to 80 iu of vitamin d supplementation which calculates to about 4000 iu for an average weighing person of about 70 kg. Normal per day need is 600 to 800 iu per day. As it is stored in liver for about 6 months so preparations in oil are available for therapeutic use in concentrations of 3 lac and 6 lac units. A deficient person needing 4000 units per day multiplied by 180 days can be given 7.5 lac units safely injectably but because due to deficiency stores are depleted hence another fill of 7.5 lacs can be given for taking care of 1 year. After that recheck will show whether d level is deficient again or not. Generally doctors don't prescribe more than this limit within a short period. Excess of vitamin d does have toxic effects hence unnecessary administration without medical supervision is not recommended. 

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