What Is Vitamin D3?
Vitamin D3, also known as Cholecalciferol or VD3, is a white powder soluble in lipids or fat but insoluble in water.
According to one experiment, when VD3 solution is heated at 130 degrees for 90 minutes, its physiological activity remains undamaged, but gradually decomposes under acidic conditions, so we can see it is very stable.
We said it once and we will say it again, unlike Vitamin D2, almost 99.5% of the Vitamin D3 products you see in the market are animal origin. and the authentic vegan VD3 is extremely rare.
Pure Vitamin D3 powder can withstand high temperatures and oxidation in neutral and alkaline solutions.
It works by promoting the absorption and deposition of calcium and phosphorus in the intestine, so it will improve your bone health.
What Is Vitamin D3 Used For Mainly?
Vitamin D3 promotes the absorption of calcium and phosphorus in the small intestinal conjunctiva and renal tubules, so it promotes bone metabolism and maintains the balance of blood calcium and blood phosphorus, as a result, it enhances bone mineralization and increases muscle strength and balance.
It is the most widely used nutritional supplement for bone growth issues.
It is administered by mouth as soft gels or chewable gummies.
In serious conditions, people will have to take VD3 injections to treat certain diseases.
#1. Indications as a pharmaceutical ingredient:
#1.1 Prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency
#1.2 Treatment of Chronic hypocalcemia, hypophosphatemia, rickets, and osteochondrosis with chronic renal insufficiency familial hypophosphatemia.
#1.3 Treatment of hypoparathyroidism (postoperative, idiopathic, or pseudohypoparathyroidism)
#1.4 Treatment of acute, chronic, and potentially post-surgical tardive dyskinesia and idiopathic tardive dyskinesia Prevention and treatment of postmenopausal and senile osteoporosis.
Vitamin D3 is famous for its function to make your bones stronger together with Vitamin K2.
#2. As a nutritional supplement, VD3 has the following physiological functions:
#2.1 To improve absorption of calcium and phosphorus in your body, so that the level of plasma calcium and plasma phosphorus reaches saturation.
#2.2 To promote growth and bone calcification in your body, so you can have healthy teeth.
#2.3 To increase phosphorus absorption through the intestinal wall, and increase phosphorus reabsorption through the renal tubules.
#2.4 To maintain citrate levels in your blood.
#2.5 To prevent the loss of amino acids through the kidney.
#3. Off-label uses
Many international in-depth studies have shown that vitamin D is no longer a nutritional necessity only used to prevent rickets in children, it is more widely recognized for its health significance confirmed by a large number of clinical trials, including:
#3.1 To lower the chances of common cancers, such as breast cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, etc.
#3.2 To prevent autoimmune diseases, hypertension, and infectious diseases.
#3.3 To regulate the development and function of the placenta.
Maintaining a good vitamin D level in pregnant women can prevent pregnancy complications such as miscarriage, pre-eclampsia, and premature birth.
#3.4 Sufficient vitamin D in utero and infants can reduce the chance of type 1 diabetes, asthma, and schizophrenia.
Precautions
Before treating hypocalcemia with VD3, it is necessary to control serum phosphorus concentration and periodically review blood calcium and other relevant indicators.
Avoid the concomitant use of calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D preparations unless medically indicated.
Due to individual differences, the dosage of vitamin D3 should be adjusted according to the clinical response.
Usage and Dosage
Vitamin D3 is a prescription drug, so it must be prescribed by a doctor according to the condition of the patient, and the patients should strictly follow the doctor’s instructions for medication, including usage, dosage, medication time, etc.
The patient shall not follow the instructions of the drug to use their medication without consulting a doctor.
Dosing and Dosage Forms
Injections:
0.5ml: 3.75mg (150,000 units);
1ml: 7.5mg (300,000 units);
1ml: 15mg (600,000 units).
How To Dose
Intramuscular injection of 7.5~15mg (300,000~600,000 units) at one time, and can only be repeated after 2~4 weeks for patients with severe cases.
Due to individual differences, the dosage of vitamin D3 should be adjusted according to the clinical response.
Post-use instructions
Before treatment of hypocalcemia, control serum phosphorus concentration, review blood calcium and other relevant indexes regularly, and avoid the simultaneous application of calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D preparations unless prescribed by a physician.
Vitamin D3 may interfere with diagnostic results: Vitamin D3 may cause a decrease in serum phosphatase concentrations, an increase in serum calcium, cholesterol, phosphate, and magnesium concentrations, and an increase in urinary calcium and phosphate concentrations.
During the medication, the following items should be checked: serum urea nitrogen, muscle mass, and muscle mass clearance, serum alkaline phosphatase, blood phosphorus, 24-hour urinary calcium, urinary calcium-to-muscle mass ratio, blood calcium (with therapeutic doses of vitamin D3, regular monitoring should be performed to maintain a blood calcium concentration of 2.00-2.50 mmol/L), and bone X-ray examination.
Overdose
A short-term overdose or a prolonged high dose of vitamin D3 can result in a severe toxic reaction.
The toxic dose may vary from individual to individual, but 50,000 units per day for more than 6 months can cause toxic reactions in normal people.
Hypercalcemia caused by poisoning can cause systemic vascular calcification, renal calcium precipitation, and other soft tissue calcification, resulting in hypertension and renal failure. The above-mentioned adverse reactions occur mostly in hypercalcemia and hyperphosphatemia.
Children may suffer from growth retardation, which is often seen after prolonged application of vitamin D3 at 1800 units per day.
Vitamin D3 toxicity can be fatal due to renal and cardiovascular failure.
To treat vitamin D3 overdose, in addition to discontinuing its use immediately, a low-calcium diet with plenty of water should be given to keep the urine acidic, along with symptomatic and supportive treatment.
For example, a hypercalcemia crisis requires an intravenous sodium chloride solution to increase urinary calcium discharge.
If necessary, apply diuretics, corticosteroids, or calcitonin to blood dialysis, and patients should avoid exposure to the sun until the blood calcium concentration rises to normal before changing the treatment program.
Prohibitions
Individuals who are allergic to this product.
Patients with hypercalcemia, hypervitaminosis D, and hyperphosphatemia with renal osteomalacia.
People with malabsorption syndrome.
People with vitamin D toxicity or poisoning.
Prudent To Use
Those with arteriosclerosis, cardiac insufficiency, hypercholesterolemia, hyperphosphatemia
People who are highly sensitive to vitamin D and renal insufficiency (e.g., kidney stones, renal failure), non-renal disease treated with vitamin D3.
If the patient is abnormally sensitive to vitamin D3, it can produce nephrotoxicity.
How Much Does 98% Vitamin D3 Cost?
About the costs of Vitamin D3, please note that there are at least three types of VD3 in the market:
Pharma-grade;
Food-grade;
Feed-grade;
Different grades have different prices, which is obvious.
But how do you tell the differences between each grade?
Say if I have 3 bags of white powders on the table without any labels of course, are you able to tell which is what?
If you can not, here is the trick: choose the fine crystals with the whitest color, it is pharma-grade.
Food grade and feed grade have white and off-white or even light yellow colors.
The color difference is caused by impurity control during the manufacturing process.
Pharm-grade has high-quality standards, activity is required to be over 40 million IU/G, and the market price is around 5000 USD per kilo.
When we say pharm-grade, it means this API is GMP-certified.
Or even if it is 98% purity meeting USP, it is still food-grade.
Food-Grade: 1 Million IU/G, the price idea is around 60~100USD/kg.
Feed-Grade: 100,000 IU/G~500,000 IU/G, price is around 15~30USD/kg.
We mainly stock 98% type VD3 powder, with or without GMP, the unit price for 1kg is about 5000usd per kg.
How To Ship and Store Vitamin D3 Powder?
As we mentioned above, VD3 powder is very stable. You can ship it by air or by sea at room temperature.
Stability testing has shown that it is stable for 3 years at room temperature.
But for long-term storage, it is suggested to be stored at 2~8 degrees Celsius.
The tricky part is the shipping though.
Vitamin D3 oil is often used as an acute mice poison, which means vitamin D3 in oil form is very poisonous.
It is also proven that pharma-grade Vd3 powder is also poisonous, and you may want to label and handle it properly.
While the food-grade and feed-grade vd3 powder is tested to be very safe and non-poisonous.
They are suitable for shipping as a common chemical.