With more and more health benefits of vitamin D now coming to light and the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency on the rise, supplementing with this essential nutrient is becoming commonplace for many people.
There are two types of vitamin D available in supplements- Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) and Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and people are often unsure as to which type they should get.
Vitamin D3 is the form that we make in the skin when we are exposed to sunlight and it is often recommended as the preferred type to supplement with as it is thought to increase our D levels better than D2.
A study recently published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism seems to confirm this and has found that administration of Vitamin D3 is approximately 87% more potent in raising and maintaining our levels of Vitamin D in the blood than Vitamin D2.
The researchers also found that administration of Vitamin D3 leads to a greater storage of Vitamin D in adipose tissue. The study concluded that D3 should be the preferred form when used to correct Vitamin D deficiency.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab, March 2011, 96(3):0000-0000
Please note: the dose given in this study is 50,000 IU which is not generally regarded as a supplementation dose but rather a treatment for patients with vitamin D deficiency.