How much vitamin D do you need?

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I spoke to a guy recently who was worried that he wasn’t getting enough vitamin D.

Vitamin D deficiency is pretty common, and a growing list of diseases and disorders are being linked to it. There are also a lot of conflicting guidelines as to sun exposure times required for adequate dosage — and these can be confusing — as it depends on the location where you live, skin color and many other factors.

What is pretty clear from all the modern research is that you need adequate amounts of vitamin D either through sun exposure or supplementation for good health. The research is considerable in regard to prostate health, cancer, bone health, mental health, testosterone deficiency and many other ailments.

General recommendations from the Vitamin D Council has us men taking about 5,000 IUs a day for two to three months in order to get our blood serum levels between 50 and 80 ng/ml, which is generally considered the healthy range (note this is nearly 10 times the government recommendation, which is 600 IUs). The only way to know what your levels are, however, is to have a 25-hydroxy vitamin D test done by your doctor to see what your levels are and then to take an adequate dosage to get you to a healthy range. Some naturopaths prescribe mega dosages of 20,000 or more IUs a day to supercharge your body back to a healthy range and then level off the dosages to keep you there.

I take about 10,000 IU a day, which is the upper limit of the Vitamin D Council recommendation.

There are 1,000 IUs in Prost-P10x; and I also supplement with the 5,000 IU Jarrows brand that you can find at Amazon.com by clicking here. There is also a lot of great research on vitamin D here and here if you are interested in researching it further.

–Craig Cooper

Personal Liberty

Craig Cooper

is a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, author, and TV host of CNBC's "Adventure Capitalists". He is an “Ambassador” for both the global men’s health foundation “Movember” and 2XU, the performance sportswear company. He is the author of the Harper Collins book “Your New Prime: 30 Days to Better Sex, Eternal Strength, and a Kick-Ass Life After 40“. Follow Craig on Instagram @craigcooperrrr and Facebook.