Vitamin D Test Kit

Vitamin D helps maintain the balance of calcium and phosphate in your body. It does this by promoting calcium and phosphate absorption from the kidneys and intestines.

Calcium and phosphate are needed for the health of your muscles, bones and teeth. If you have a lack of vitamin D it could result in bone pain caused by osteomalacia (a condition characterised by a softening of the bones) and bone deformities such as rickets (a condition affecting children’s bone development).

The average recommended daily intake of Vitamin D for men, women, and children over the age of 1 year is 10 micrograms of vitamin D per day. Babies up to 1 year old required between 8.5 and 10 mcg of vitamin D per day.

The government advises that everyone could benefit from taking vitamin D daily in the autumn and winter.

For more information, please read our guide to vitamins and supplements.

Vitamin D is produced naturally by the body when you are exposed to sunlight, and you can get vitamin D from some foods and supplements. From regulating calcium and phosphorus absorption to facilitating immune system function; vitamin D plays an important role in the body’s function.

Let’s look closer at some of vitamin D’s benefits:

• Vitamin D may protect against respiratory infections – if you aren’t getting enough vitamin D, increasing your vitamin D levels could mean you get fewer colds and flu. A study showed that vitamin D-deficient participants saw a 12 percent reduction in respiratory infection risk after taking a vitamin D supplement.
• Vitamin D may improve seasonal depression symptoms – if you aren’t getting enough vitamin D, research by the National Institute of Mental Health indicates you could be at a higher risk of seasonal depression (seasonal affective disorder).
• Vitamin D may help fight diseases – from reducing the risk of multiple sclerosis to lowering your chances of heart disease and autoimmune disease; getting enough vitamin may have a role to play in fighting several diseases.
• Vitamin D may support weight loss – research indicates that vitamin D can support weight loss. A study that gave vitamin D supplements to people with obesity who were following a diet plan found that they lost more weight and fat mass than a placebo group who were only following a diet plan.

If you aren't getting enough vitamin D, this can lead to Vitamin D deficiency, which can cause all sorts of problems. The signs and symptoms of vitamin D deficiency in adults may include:

• Bone pain
• Tiredness
• Muscle weakness
• Muscle cramps
• Muscle aches
• Mood changes (including depression)

Vitamin D deficiency can also result in weak or painful muscles in children. When children are not getting enough vitamin D, they may also get a rare disease called rickets which causes incorrect bone development, bone pain, muscle weakness and deformities in the joints.

At Cloud Pharmacy, we offer Fultium D3 capsules that help treat vitamin D deficiency in adults. It contains the active ingredient cholecalciferol, also known as vitamin D3. Each capsule contains 20 micrograms of vitamin D.

Vitamin D can be caused by several medical conditions, surgical procedures, and medications.

The medical conditions that can cause vitamin D deficiency include:

• Coeliac disease
• Crohn’s disease
• Cystic fibrosis
• Obesity
• Kidney diseases
• Liver diseases
• Weight loss surgeries such as gastric bypass, duodenal switch, and sleeve gastrectomy
• Medications such as steroids, laxatives, seizure control drugs, cholesterol-lowering drugs, rifampicin (a drug
• for tuberculosis) and orlistat (an obesity treatment)

There are also certain risk factors that could mean you are more likely to have a vitamin C deficiency. You may be more likely to get vitamin D deficiency if:

• You have mobility problems and don’t go outside very often
• You are an older person, as the skin’s ability to produce vitamin D gradually decreases with age
• You have dark-coloured skin, as people with darker skin have less ability to produce vitamin D compared to people with lighter skin

Infants who are only fed breast milk are also at a higher risk of having low vitamin D, as human breast milk only contains a small amount.

If you want to find out whether you have vitamin D deficiency, you can get a diagnosis through a vitamin D test kit. Vitamin D tests determine how much vitamin D you have in your bloodstream. They involve taking a blood sample to measure the amount of 25-hydroxy vitamin D, one of two types of vitamin D in the blood.

Our vitamin D tests can be done at home. They are quick, convenient and accurate. They can monitor or screen for bone disorders, and measure vitamin D levels effectively. Cloud Pharmacy’s home test kit requires the sample to be sent off in a pre-paid envelope to a registered laboratory. This ensures precise and swift results that will be sent to you within 2-5 working days.

You can order a vitamin D home test kit straight to your door through Cloud Pharmacy’s website. A short consultation is not required and the test kit can be purchased straight away and delivered to your door with next-day delivery (before 3 pm). If you believe you have vitamin D deficiency and would like to get tested, order your home test kit today.