I saw a patient last week who had given a copy of her blood work that I
ordered to her primary care physician. She is a woman in her late 50’s
with a very fair complexion, a family history of osteoporosis and is
mildly hypertensive. She explained to me how baffled her physician was
at my ordering a vitamin D level on her as part of a routine blood work
up and told her he was certain vitamin D was not that important and she
could get enough by drinking more milk anyway . She got the blood test
done despite his objections. Her blood level of Vitamin D was very low
and there is just too much good science published about the importance
of vitamin D for us to ignore. When Michael Holick’s group (the vitamin
D guru from Boston University) tested cow’s milk for vitamin D levels,
only 29% contained between 320 and 480 i.u. of vitamin D per quart.
Skim milk had undetectable vitamin D. It is not possible to get enough
Vitamin D from drinking milk. You would have to consume 15 glasses per
day. The take home message, getting your blood level of Vitamin D
measured seems like a prudent and necessary thing to do.