Are the new vitamin D recommendations too low?Are the new vitamin D recommendations too low?

I don’t know about you, but the supplement geeks at my office have been waiting with baited breath for new vitamin D recommendations from the Institute of Medicine. Currently, the IOM recommends 200 IU a day, but these recommendations were established more than a decade ago as a means to prevent rickets. Now we know that vitamin D does so much more. As a result, the IOM is poised to up its recommended vitamin D intake this year.

In the meantime, the International Osteoporosis Foundation threw us a bone by releasing a new position statement on vitamin D. The bone, however, was quite small, making us hungry for more. The new IOF recommendations are:

Modest? Yes. Even Harvard recommends a minimum of 1,000-2,000 IU of vitamin D per day for people over age 2. Some folks may need more, up to 4,000 IU a day.

Do you think the IOM should go higher than the IOF? Or should they remain conservative with new recommendations? What do you think is at stake?