I Recently Had My Blood Work For Vitamin D Low In Report

Posted on Fri, 15 Dec 2023

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 15 Dec 2023 Answered on

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 Last reviewed on

Question : I recently had my blood work for vitamin D and it came low 17 ng/ml.

I wanted to know does low and severe deficiency of vitamin D cause any type of cancer?

Also i am 33 years old in couple of months, i already got grey hairs on my head and also few in beard and 4 to 5 grey hairs in the middle of the chest.

I am worried what causing me grey hairs and before this i use to color my hairs too when i had few to little grey hairs and now it has increased in numbers.

Answered by Dr. Aaron Branch (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Vitamin D level of 17 ng/ml is low

Detailed Answer:
Hello, I'm Dr. Branch, thanks for using 'Ask a Doctor'. A normal vitamin D level is defined by many experts as above 20 ng/ml, so your level is a bit low, but not severely low. We would usually treat this with a Vitamin D supplement of 800 to 1000 international units (IU) daily, and then recheck in about 3 months to see if it is in normal range. While Vitamin D can help with bone strength, preventing falls, and other benefits for the immune and cardiovascular systems, vitamin D deficiency is not a known risk factor for any kind of cancer.

As for graying hair, there could be many factors involved, including genetics, stress, nutrient deficiencies such as vitamin B12, and thyroid disease. However, graying hair at age 33 would not be considered very unusual, and most likely is just normal.

I hope that helps, please let me know if you have any other questions about that, and I would be glad to discuss it with you further.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vaishalee Punj