Safety and Efficacy of Loading Doses of Vitamin D: Recommendations for Effective Repletion

2024

Vitamin D Loading Doses: Safety and Efficacy

Sample size: 70 publication 10 minutes Evidence: high

Author Information

Author(s): Tóth Béla E., Takács István, Kádár Kristóf, Mirani Sara, Vecsernyés Miklós, Lakatos Péter

Primary Institution: Department of Pharmaceutical Surveillance and Economy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Debrecen, Hungary

Hypothesis

Higher loading doses of vitamin D will be more effective in achieving optimal 25(OH)D levels compared to lower maintenance doses.

Conclusion

A loading dose of 300,000 IU of vitamin D is effective for repletion without increasing the risk of hypercalcemia or hypercalciuria.

Supporting Evidence

The moderate–fast-loading schedule effectively achieves target 25(OH)D levels over 30 ng/mL for all deficient subjects.
Overweight and obese patients require higher doses to reach the same vitamin D levels.
No difference in safety parameters was observed compared to low-dose therapies.
100% of participants achieved normalization of vitamin D levels with the moderate–faster-loading regimen.

Takeaway

Giving a big dose of vitamin D helps people get enough vitamin D in their blood without causing problems.

Methodology

The study compared two loading protocols of vitamin D (300,000 IU) over 5 or 10 weeks against a low-dose maintenance therapy (1000 IU/day) in vitamin D deficient subjects.