THURSDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- A new set of reference materials to make blood tests for vitamin D levels more accurate could improve treatment for vitamin D deficiency-related diseases, according to a study presented at the 237th meeting of the American Chemical Society, held from March 22 to 26 in Salt Lake City.
Mary Bedner, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., and colleagues devised reference materials based on four different pools of human blood serum, containing different quantities of 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 and D3 to represent what is normally seen in a clinical setting.
The four pools were serum containing mostly 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, which indicates a normal level of vitamin D; serum with half the normal amount of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, which indicates vitamin D deficiency; serum showing the effects of vitamin D supplementation and containing elevated levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D2; and serum with high levels of 3-epi-25-hydroxyvitamin D3, to represent the serum vitamin D profile of small children.
"No one really knows what methods or assays are correct at this point. Right now, you can send a blood sample to two different labs and get completely different results for vitamin D," said Bedner, in a statement. "Accuracy is key. We need to provide a reference material that other people can trust."
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