Which Form of Vitamin D is Better, D2 or D3?

Answer: If I were to pick out a vitamin D supplement, I would lean toward one with D3, but it may not matter that much – after all, D2 has been used for many years.What’s D2 and D3 anyway? Vitamin D is a substance your body synthesizes after your skin is exposed to sunlight, however it is also available in fish oil and in foods that have been fortified with vitamin D. In your body, vitamin D acts like a hormone to help your body absorb and use calcium and regulate the amount of calcium in your blood. If you don’t get enough vitamin D, you’ll increase your risk of osteoporosis, or other bone-weakening diseases such asosteomalacia and osteopenia. Vitamin D is also important for a healthy immune system and normal nerve and muscle function.

Now for a little bit of vitamin D biochemistry (very little, I promise). Cholecalciferol (that’s D3) is the form of vitamin D found in animals. When your skin is exposed to the UVB rays of sunlight, your body converts something called 7-Dehydrocholesterol (related to cholesterol) through a series of biochemical steps to cholecalciferol. Then through another step, the cholecalciferol is converted to calcifediol, which is also called 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and is the form that the laboratory measures when your doctor orders a vitamin D test. Finally your body turns calcifediol into the active form of vitamin D (the one that does the work) called calcitriol.

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