How Vitamin D Promotes Healing and Surgical Wellness

In some studies, up to 95% of the GENERAL POPULATION is not meeting the daily intake requirements for vitamin D. That means even when people are healthy they are not taking in enough, let alone those who are sick, injured, or need surgery. Obesity, being overweight, low levels of sunlight, and low intake of fortified foods are risk factors for low levels. Healthy and unhealthy alike are running on fumes of vitamin D; therefore the great majority of surgical patients are low going into surgery. And it is the vitamin D level the patient has going into surgery that predicts how he/she/it does with surgery! 

Vitamin D is used for production of hormones, plays significant roles in immune function and inflammation, is vital to bone, nerve, and muscle health, and develops healing of internal and external wounds. There are few foods with naturally occurring vitamin D and thus many foods are fortified. Those who are overweight have most of their vitamin D stored in the fat cells where it is unable to escape into the bloodstream and help other cells in the body.

Appropriate blood levels of vitamin D are in flux. For bone health, some experts feel the lowest level should be 20ng/mL, and experts in the endocrine field think it should be more like 40-60ng/mL. For muscle regeneration and growth, even higher levels are recommended. Additionally, there is research ongoing that correlates higher vitamin D levels with lowering breast cancer risk. 

Vitamin D toxicity can occur but studies have shown this is most common after months of taking a large amount daily, such as 60,000iu per day. Most supplements are 1,000-5,000iu per day. While it is always good to talk with your physician or provider, vitamin D supplementation has been shown to be safe and helpful for many aspects of our health.

Contact me at info@centerforholisticsurgery.com and we can find a time to chat about how I can support you to your best surgical health.