An Australian study has shown that the amount of vitamin D you need to be replete in the sunshine vitamin may be more than 8 times higher than the 600 IU the Institute of Medicine declared last fall.

A research team from St. George’s Hospital in New South Wales, Australia published a study this month showing that 5,000 IU doses may be needed to raise vitamin D to natural levels in people, and that 5,000 IU was much more effective than 2,000 IU doses.

“After 3 months of 2,000 IU/day the vitamin D levels averaged 30 ng/ml (75 nmol/L), meaning about half the patients were still vitamin D deficient,” Vitamin D Council founder Dr. John Cannell wrote in discussing the study on the D Council’s web site, www.vitaminDcouncil.org. “Not so with the 5,000 IU/day group. The average vitamin D level was 45 ng/ml (114 nmol/L), right in the ‘natural range.’ In addition, 93% of the patients had levels higher than 30 ng/ml compared to the 2,000 IU/day group, where only 45 % had levels above 30 ng/ml.”

To see the study click here.