Boost your fertility with vitamin D
*Originally posted on May 22, 2009
As the sun seems to be hiding a bit more these days and the fact that it’s getting colder here in Michigan, it seems like a good time to cover vitamin D again. Plus, as an added bonus, it’s great for the immune system!
What is it?
Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin and exists in several forms. Some of these are basically inactive in the body and have limited ability to function.
Why is it important for fertility? Well, you need it in order for your body to produce sex hormones. And without the right amount of hormones in your system, you can suffer from pcos, PMS, and infertility. Vitamin D is also key in regulating cell growth and deciding how those cells grow.
A study was done by the Yale University School of Medicine (source) with 67 women suffering from infertility. Only 7 % of them had normal vitamin D levels! 7%! The rest had either insufficient levels or an actual clinical deficiency.
Dr Lubna Pal, from Yale, said: “Of note, not a single patient with either ovulatory disturbance or polycystic ovary syndrome demonstrated normal Vitamin D levels; 39 per cent of those with ovulatory disturbance and 38 per cent of those with PCOS had serum 25OHD levels consistent with deficiency.
“Given the pandemic of Vitamin D insufficiency, if indeed our observations are substantiated, aggressive repletion with Vitamin D may emerge as an alternative approach to facilitate ovulation resumption with minimal to no risk for ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome or multiple pregnancy.”
Those are some pretty large percentages too! Almost 40% of the women with ovulation problems had clinical deficiencies! Obviously, vitamin D is important to our reproductive system.
How you get it
Food is the best source of vitamin D, and the easiest way to get it is to eat fatty fish, eggs, and grasssfed beef products (especially dairy). If you do have a hard time getting it in your diet (or don’t like fish or are wary of toxic mercury), supplementing with cod liver oil is also helpful in making sure you’re getting enough. (another great reason to take cod liver oil is the fact that it has the right ratios of vitamin A and D in it1) And just make sure if you buy supplements that the ones you buy contain vitamin D3 and not D2 which actually does not raise the blood levels of vitamin D.
And as most of you know, you can also get vitamin D from the sun. About 15-20 minutes of exposure (without sunblock as it blocks the ultraviolet light needed for vitamin D production) a day can be very beneficial. The sun actually causes your skin to produce vitamin D3 which is then converted by the liver and kidneys to the active hormone form of vitamin D. With proper sun exposure, your body can actually produce up to 10,000-25,000 IU of the vitamin.
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Great Post! Vitamin D is so important for our health!
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I’m finally getting together a co-op to get grassfed meat – so excited! My 11-month-old daughter was in the sun the other day – just 10-15 minutes – and she got a bit pink. I’m hesitant now! It was right at midday, picnic lunch time, so I know I should be more careful about timing. But what to do when you’re just outside and it’s the wrong time? I don’t trust the chemicals in sunscreens…do you have any natural alternatives?
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This is very interesting about vitamin D and infertility.
I've been irregular my whole life except for an exchange in university where I went to a tropical country, so this makes sense. I've been TTC for one year, so I'm going to get me some vitamin D supplements today.
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i’ve been under treatment for infertility for 8 months. last week my doctor tested my vitamin D level. he just called to tell me i was waaaay below the healthy level and told me to go out and buy a vitamin d3 supplement! from what i’ve read on the internet of the research that’s been done, i’m hopeful that this can make a difference. funny thing is i live in Arizona- the so-called “valley of the sun”, but apparently i’m spending too much time inside
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donielle Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
@carrie, I would definitely try and get some fermented cod liver oil from http://www.GreenPastures.com then! It’s high in vitamin D as well as A (which I’ve recently found out is essential for absorbing vitamin D). Taking the oil plus a D3 supplement should really help bring your levels up! Hope it’s the answer you’ve been looking for!
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