Vitamin D does a lot for your body, supporting strong bones, muscle movement, your immune system, and more. Taking a vitamin D supplement may seem like a quick and easy way to boost these benefits—but doctors say there are a few things to know first.
“There’s no question that vitamin D is essential for good health,” says Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of the division of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who researches vitamin D supplementation. “The question is: Do we really need to take supplements?”
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Vitamin D supplements are mostly recommended when you’re deficient. In the U.S., 35% of adults are vitamin D deficient, according to the National Library of Medicine. People who are obese, over 65, or have darker skin may be more at risk for deficiency—and about 50% to 60% of nursing home residents and patients in hospitals are vitamin D deficient.
Here’s what experts say about taking vitamin D.
The many sources of vitamin D
Vitamin D is a “nutrient that the body can actually make itself” from sunlight exposure, says Dr. Clemens Bergwitz, associate professor of medicine specializing in endocrinology at the Yale School of Medicine.
“Everything in moderation,” though, especially with sun exposure, says Dr. Kseniya Kobets, director of cosmetic dermatology and assistant professor of dermatology at Montefiore Einstein. Too much ultraviolet radiation can cause skin cancer and speed up skin aging.
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Kobets recommends no more than 15 minutes daily of bare-skin exposure for vitamin D production; beyond that, sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher is essential to protect your skin.
You can also get vitamin D through foods including fatty fish, beef liver, egg yolks, cheese, and mushrooms, Manson says. Other food sources—like milk, breakfast cereals, and plant-based dairy alternatives—are fortified with the vitamin.
The health benefits of vitamin D
Vitamin D is “essential to the function of virtually all of the organs in our body,” Manson says. Vitamin D receptors exist in your blood vessels, brain, immune system, and tissues.
The vitamin helps your body absorb calcium and maintain adequate calcium levels, which keeps your bones strong, helps them grow, prevents thinning and brittleness, and lowers your risk for osteoporosis later in life, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Vitamin D can also help reduce inflammation in the body, improve immune function, and increase cell growth. Your immune system needs it to defend against bacteria and viruses, according to the National Library of Medicine. Muscles need vitamin D to move and function properly, and nerves rely on it to send messages between your brain and the rest of your body.
Do supplements offer the same benefits?
Vitamin D supplements have been touted for potentially reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease, dementia, and stroke; improving brain functioning; and minimizing the likelihood of bone fractures. However, research hasn’t shown a strong cause-and-effect link.
“When you take a step back, and you review the literature, we find that unless you’re completely deficient, supplementation of vitamin D is not as impactful,” Bergwitz says.
For instance, in a 2023 randomized controlled trial published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, more than 21,000 older adults took vitamin D supplements or a placebo for five years. Researchers found little difference between the groups when it came to their bone-fracture risk. A 2024 study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine suggested that vitamin D supplementation doesn’t reduce the rate of developing fractures for healthy elderly people.
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Since 2009, Manson has been working with other researchers on the Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL), an ongoing randomized trial of more than 25,800 adults to examine whether taking 2,000 international units (IUs) of vitamin D or omega-3 fatty acids lowers the risk for heart disease, stroke, and cancer, compared to a placebo.
Manson says the research hasn’t shown a clear benefit of vitamin D supplements in lowering heart disease or cancer risk, reducing bone fractures, or decreasing cognitive decline.
However, she says the VITAL study has shown vitamin D supplements may have benefits in reducing the risk of developing autoimmune disease, like rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis, or advanced (metastatic) cancer.
When you should (and shouldn’t) take vitamin D supplements
Most people get enough vitamin D from their diet or sunlight and likely don’t need supplements, Manson says. But for those who are deficient—which can be confirmed by a blood test—supplements are necessary.
“It usually takes a profound deficiency of vitamin D to have a clear benefit from supplementation,” she says.
People who tend to stay indoors for long periods might not get enough vitamin D from sunlight, Bergwitz says. Your risk of deficiency might go up in the winter when you’re likely to be inside or if you don’t eat vitamin D-rich foods.
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If you have osteoporosis, liver disease, celiac disease, or inflammatory bowel disease, you might have trouble absorbing vitamin D and need to take supplements, according to Harvard Medical School. Vitamin D may be recommended for women during menopause, Bergwitz says.
Signs of vitamin D deficiency include fatigue, bone pain, muscle aches or cramps, mood changes, or depression, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
When doctors suspect vitamin D deficiency, they also often measure your calcium levels and may recommend supplementing that mineral as well, Bergwitz says.
How much vitamin D should you take?
The recommended vitamin D supplementation for adults under 65 is 600 to 800 IUs daily and 800 to 1,000 IUs for those over age 65. But the right dose may also depend on your health status, so check with your doctor.
Vitamin D supplements are safe for most people, Manson says. However, it’s possible to take too much. A prolonged intake of more than 4,000 IUs a day could be risky, potentially causing nausea, muscle weakness, vomiting, confusion, loss of appetite, kidney stones, and excessive thirst and urination.
You can’t actually get too much vitamin D from sunlight because the body naturally limits the amount of the vitamin that it makes, Manson says.
What to look for in a vitamin D supplement
Supplements aren’t regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration like prescription and over-the-counter medications. Manson recommends looking for products with third-party testing for quality control, such as U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) or NSF certification.
Check the dosage, too, Bergwitz suggests. A bottle of supplements can be expensive when you have to take multiple pills per dose. “You should always calculate the price of your vitamin D supplement based on the price per serving, not based on price per pill,” he explains.
Also review the list of ingredients and choose supplements with the fewest listed, Kobets adds. If you’re ever in doubt about a vitamin D (or any other) supplement, she suggests bringing the product to your next doctor’s appointment and asking them to look it over.
Though these supplements are generally safe and sometimes necessary, Manson says the best ways for most people to maintain healthy levels are from time outdoors and diet. While it may seem easier to “pop a vitamin pill,” she says, supplements are “never going to be a substitute for a healthy diet and healthy lifestyle.”
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