Skip to content
Missed Black Friday? Check out our HUGE offers for Christmas!
Missed Black Friday? Check out our HUGE offers for Christmas!

Vitamin D - description and reference ranges

What is it?

Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body. These nutrients are needed to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy.

A lack of vitamin D can lead to bone deformities such as rickets in children, and bone pain caused by a condition called osteomalacia in adults.

General advice is that everyone should consider taking a daily vitamin D supplement during the autumn and winter.

Reference ranges

If your indicative Vitamin D level is lower than the reference range for our laboratory:

Vitamin D deficiency (low concentrations in your body) occurs when your body does not get enough vitamin D from sunlight or normal diet. Vitamin D deficiency can cause loss of bone density, osteoporosis, and broken bones.

General advice is that everyone should consider taking a daily vitamin D supplement during the autumn and winter, whereby around 10 micrograms a day should be sufficient.

You should discuss this result with your GP if you have concerns or symptoms.

If your indicative Vitamin D level is higher than the reference range for our laboratory:

Taking too many vitamin D supplements over a long period of time can cause too much calcium to build up in the body (hypercalcaemia). This can weaken the bones and eventually damage the kidneys (calcium stones) and the heart. It can cause nausea and vomiting, weakness, and frequent passing of urine.

If you are taking vitamin D supplements, around 10 micrograms a day should be sufficient. It is very rare to get overdose of Vitamin D from sunlight or normal foods. Normally it observed from overuse of vitamin supplements.

You should discuss this result with your GP if you have concerns or symptoms.

Quick test finder

Quick test finder

Find what you need in under 30 seconds with our (very clever!) test finder. We offer a huge range of markers all a few clicks away, as well as fastest turnaround times.

Find your test

You might also like to read

  • The PSA Blood Test and Prostate Cancer Screening
    Adam Staten

    The PSA Blood Test and Prostate Cancer Screening

    In the UK, we screen for many different conditions. This starts before we are even born when foetuses are screened for conditions such as Down’s syndrome then, in the new born period, babies are screened for metabolic diseases and hearing problems, school children are screened for colour blindness, and in adulthood we are screened for breast cancer, cervical cancer, and bowel cancer. But we don’t screen for prostate cancer despite the existence of a simple blood test that can alert us to the possibility of the disease.

    Why not?

    Read now
  • Dr Mike Forsythe on Vitamin B12
    Dr Mike Forsythe

    Dr Mike Forsythe on Vitamin B12

    Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a unique nutrient, as it’s the only vitamin we require that must be sourced externally from animal-derived foods or supplements. So how do we know if we are getting enough of it? What...

    Read now