Women who are diagnosed with fibroids often ask “What vitamins should I take for fibroids?” Or “What supplements get rid of fibroids?” If you have been diagnosed with fibroids and are looking for some holistic fibroid treatments, taking vitamin D supplements may help slow down your fibroid growth.
Vitamin D And Fibroids
The connection between fibroids and vitamin D has been properly researched and evaluated. Generally speaking, there are a number of risk factors for fibroids: African-American race, elevated body mass index (BMI), premenopausal status, and a family history of fibroids, just to name some of the most common. However, one that is often overlooked and easily remedied is low vitamin D.
While vitamin D is often grouped into the fat-soluble vitamin category including vitamin A, E, K, and others, technically it is a prohormone. A prohormone is a substance that gets converted inside our body into an active substance affecting certain processes in our body in other words becoming a hormone.
Where Do I Source Vitamin D For Fibroids?
Vitamin D is very important in building and maintaining adequate healthy bones through regulating calcium and phosphorus in our bodies. The best and purest source of vitamin D is the sun.
Vitamin D is produced from cholesterol in the skin with the help of sunlight (specifically UVB rays). Women of color have a more challenging time getting adequate vitamin D through exposure to the sun because of the pigment in their skin.
Vitamin D can also be found in certain foods, e.g. wild salmon, wild tuna, cod liver oil, eggs, sardines, etc., or can be taken in the form of supplements.
Can Vitamin D Shrink Fibroids?
While no one knows where fibroids come from, we do know what can make them grow. First and foremost, fibroids grow with hormone stimulation. (estrogen and progesterone) Estrogen and progesterone induce fibroid formation as well as growth. That is why fibroids often grow rapidly during pregnancy and why they are not typically an issue for women once they reach menopause.
Vitamin D appears to play a very important role in fibroid development. The active form of vitamin D has been shown to have powerful anti-estrogenic and anti-progesteronic effects by decreasing their receptors. We now understand that estrogen encourages the growth of fibroids and vitamin D helps to retard estrogen, so ensuring you get adequate amounts of vitamin D is one easy safeguard against fibroids
Insufficient Vitamin D Levels Can Impact Fibroids
When taking vitamin D for fibroids, it is important to first determine if you are deficient and if so, the daily dose you will need to correct it. In an NIH study from 2013 of over 1,000 women, only 10% of African-American women and 50% of Caucasian women had sufficient vitamin D levels. Women with adequate vitamin D levels were much less likely to develop fibroids (Epidemiology, 2013). It is also possible that taking D vitamins would help to shrink fibroids as well as slow down their growth.
What Is The Recommended Daily Amount Of Vitamin D?
Women should get their vitamin D levels checked during their annual checkups and if deficient, should use a vitamin D supplement to raise levels to normal, especially if needing vitamin D for fibroids. The recommended dose is 400-800 IU per day for adults, although some claim 1000-4000 IU is needed to maintain adequate levels.
It is not recommended that individuals take more than 4000 IU per day of D vitamins to shrink fibroids without consulting their doctor due to the risk of toxicity.
If you are suffering from fibroids, make an appointment to see one of the nation’s leading fibroid experts, John C. Lipman, MD, founder & medical director of the Atlanta Fibroid Center by calling (770) 953-2600, or make an appointment online.
