From around fifty, your body has more trouble making vitamin D itself. Your skin produces less from sunlight, and many women spend less time outside at a later age. That is why the Dutch Health Council (Gezondheidsraad) advises women from fifty to take extra vitamin D.
That advice has existed for years, but is often forgotten. And there is nuance: vitamin D is not a miracle cure, and not every study shows large effects. I think it is more honest to show both sides than to sell it as magic.
In this article you read why the need changes with age, what vitamin D does and does not do, and when measuring can be worthwhile for you.
Why do older people need more vitamin D?
As you age, your skin makes vitamin D less efficiently from sunlight. At the same time, many older women spend less time outside, so natural production drops further. That raises the chance of a deficiency.
Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium from food. That calcium is a building block for your bones. Without enough vitamin D, your body uses calcium less well, which can weaken your bones over time.
For women, menopause plays into this on top. After menopause, bone breakdown speeds up, and then a good calcium and vitamin D status is extra important. Read more in osteoporosis after menopause.
How much vitamin D does the Health Council advise?
The Gezondheidsraad uses age thresholds. For women aged fifty to seventy, the advice is about ten micrograms of vitamin D per day. From seventy, that goes up to twenty micrograms per day.
The table below summarises it. See it as general information, not personal advice.
| Group | Health Council advice |
|---|---|
| Women 50 to 70 years | about 10 micrograms per day |
| Women from 70 years | about 20 micrograms per day |
| Pregnant women | about 10 micrograms per day |
These figures apply to most people, but not to everyone. With a proven deficiency or certain conditions, a doctor may discuss a different dose. Discuss what fits you with your GP.
What does vitamin D do and not do?
Vitamin D supports your bones and muscles, and a good status is linked to fewer falls in older people. In a meta-analysis, vitamin D supplementation lowered the risk of falls in older adults (Bischoff-Ferrari et al., 2009).
There is evidence for fractures too. A pooled analysis showed that a higher intake of vitamin D can lower the risk of hip and other fractures in people over 65 (Bischoff-Ferrari et al., 2012).
But there is nuance. A large later analysis found no clear effect of vitamin D supplementation on fractures, falls or bone density in the broader population (Bolland et al., 2018). So vitamin D is mainly worthwhile with a deficiency, not as a general miracle.
How do you know if you have a deficiency?
A vitamin D deficiency often gives vague complaints, such as fatigue, muscle weakness or bone pain. Because those complaints also fit all sorts of other things, the only way to know for sure is a blood test.
Such a test measures the value 25-hydroxyvitamin D in your blood. At Lunara you can check that value via vitamin D (25-OH), or as part of an extended health check. Every result is assessed by a BIG-registered doctor.
More about the symptoms of a deficiency and when testing is sensible is in our article on vitamin D deficiency in women.
Vitamin D from food and sun
Besides supplements, you get vitamin D from oily fish, eggs and fortified products such as margarine. Sunlight is the main natural source, but in the Netherlands the sun is too weak from October to March for enough production.
For older women, food and sun are usually not enough to meet the need. That is exactly why the supplement advice for this group exists.
Want to support your bones and muscles more broadly? Strength and protein belong there too. For that, read preserving muscle after 50 and the overview on healthy ageing for women.
What is the practical conclusion?
For most women from fifty, a daily vitamin D supplement is a simple, cheap step with broad-based advice. The biggest effect sits with people who have a low level.
Not sure whether you get enough? Then you can have your value measured and discuss it with your GP. That way you know whether supplementing really adds something for you, instead of guessing.
Sources
- Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Dawson-Hughes B, Staehelin HB, et al. Fall prevention with supplemental and active forms of vitamin D: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ. 2009;339:b3692. PMID 19797342.
- Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Willett WC, Orav EJ, et al. A pooled analysis of vitamin D dose requirements for fracture prevention. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(1):40-49. PMID 22762317.
- Bolland MJ, Grey A, Avenell A. Effects of vitamin D supplementation on musculoskeletal health: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and trial sequential analysis. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2018;6(11):847-858. PMID 30293909.
- Gezondheidsraad. Dietary reference values for vitamin D. Available via gezondheidsraad.nl.
Every blood test result at Lunara includes a professional assessment by a BIG-registered doctor. For treatment decisions, discuss your results with your GP.
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