( From USA Today) Testing for vitamin D levels, once uncommon, has skyrocketed as medical studies raise awareness about vitamin D deficiencies, according to three of the USA’s largest medical diagnostic labs.” Richard Reitz, of Quest Diagnostics, “says tests ordered for vitamin D grew by about 80 percent from May 2007 to May 2008,” while North Carolina-based “Lab Corp. of America witnessed a 90 percent leap in D test requests from 2007 to 2008.” Additionally, the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota “processed 424,582 tests in 2007, up 74 percent from 2006,” and expects a “tally [of] more than 500,000 tests by the end of 2008.” The testing surge follows “a slew of emerging research…linking vitamin D deficiency with some infectious diseases, cancers, cardiovascular disease, and autoimmune disorders,” stated Patsy Brannon, of Cornell University. Research specifically involving vitamin D deficiencies in Americans “is also fueling the testing trend.”
A simple blood test is all that is required to find out if you have enough vitamin D. If you would like to have your vitamin D level tested, please ask the doctor at your next visit.