Private Vitamin D Test: £50, results in 24 hours
The 25-hydroxyvitamin D blood test, £50
The laboratory vitamin D test, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, measured on a venous blood sample and reviewed by a doctor who tells you whether you are deficient, insufficient or replete and what to take. Results emailed within 24 hours. No fasting and no GP referral needed. Have your blood taken at our Kings Heath clinic in Birmingham with no blood-draw fee, at one of 100+ partner clinics across the UK, or at home.
Includes: the test, the lab fee, a doctor’s review of your result with advice on supplementing, and a written report by email, usually within 24 hours. Nothing to pay on the day at the Birmingham clinic.
Book a vitamin D test online- No referral needed
- No fasting
- Results in 24 hours
- Doctor-reviewed
- CQC-registered clinic
What a vitamin D test checks
Vitamin D is made in the skin from sunlight and stored as 25-hydroxyvitamin D, which is what the test measures. In the UK the sun is too weak to make any from October to March, so by late winter most people’s levels have fallen, and people with darker skin, covered skin, or little time outdoors run low all year. The test tells you where you are on a scale from deficient to replete, and the doctor’s report tells you what, if anything, to take.
- 25-hydroxyvitamin D the storage form of vitamin D, written 25(OH)D or “serum total 25-OH vitamin D” on a lab report. It reflects what you have taken in from sunlight, food and supplements over the past two to three months, which is why it, and not the active hormone, is the test for deficiency. Reported in nmol/L in the UK (divide by 2.5 for the ng/mL figure used in American sources).
When to have one
Low vitamin D is the commonest deficiency in the UK, and its symptoms are vague enough to be missed for years. A vitamin D test is worth having if any of these apply:
- Tiredness, low mood (especially in winter), aching bones or muscles, muscle weakness, or frequent colds and infections: the symptoms of deficiency
- Darker skin, skin kept covered outdoors, or a life mostly indoors: shift work, an office job, a care home, or recovering from illness
- You are over 65, pregnant or breastfeeding, overweight, or have a gut condition that limits absorption (coeliac, Crohn’s, after weight-loss surgery)
- Osteoporosis, osteopenia, a fracture from a minor fall, or a family history of either
- You take a vitamin D supplement and want to know whether the dose is right, or you have been on a high-dose course and want to check it has worked
- A previous low result, or low iron or B12, which often go together with low vitamin D
What happens
- Book online and choose where to have your blood taken: the Kings Heath clinic, a partner clinic near you or a home visit. Pay once; there is nothing to pay on the day.
- Give one small blood sample. It takes a few minutes. No fasting is needed and there is no need to stop a supplement.
- The lab measures 25-hydroxyvitamin D at a UKAS-accredited laboratory, the same reference method used by NHS laboratories.
- A doctor reviews your result and emails you a written report, usually within 24 hours, placing it on the deficient / insufficient / replete scale and saying what dose to take and for how long.
- If something needs following up, the report says what: a treatment course for a clear deficiency with a repeat test after three months, or calcium, bone and parathyroid checks if the result is very low or the symptoms suggest more than vitamin D. We write to your NHS GP with your consent.
How to prepare
- No fasting. Eat and drink normally.
- Keep taking any supplement you already take, and tell us the dose: the question is usually whether it is enough, and stopping it first hides the answer.
- Have the test when you want to know the answer. Late winter (February to March) shows your lowest level of the year; late summer your highest.
- Biotin (vitamin B7) in hair and nail supplements can interfere with some vitamin D assays; stop it for 48 hours before the test.
Where to have your blood taken
The test, the laboratory and the doctor’s report are the same wherever you live. Only the blood-draw fee differs, and it is charged once per visit however many tests you add.
Want more from the same sample? Add a ferritin, active B12 and ferritin or thyroid test and full blood count and the blood is taken once, with the multi-test discount applied at checkout.
Normal ranges and what a high result means
| Marker | Typical adult range |
|---|---|
| Below 25 nmol/L | Deficient: treatment course advised |
| 25 to 50 nmol/L | Insufficient: may be inadequate for some people; a daily supplement advised |
| 50 to 125 nmol/L | Sufficient (replete) for bone and muscle health |
| Above 125 nmol/L | High: no benefit, and above 250 nmol/L there is a risk of toxicity |
The UK thresholds used by the NHS and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, in nmol/L; American sources use ng/mL (divide the nmol/L figure by 2.5). The same thresholds apply to men and women and at every age, including pregnancy. Most UK adults sit in the insufficient band by the end of winter, which is why Public Health England advises everyone to take 10 micrograms (400 IU) a day from October to March.
A low result is common and straightforward to correct: a daily supplement for insufficiency, a higher-dose course for a few weeks for deficiency (your doctor sets the dose, and it is always worth a repeat test afterwards). Treating it is worth doing because low vitamin D is linked to bone loss, muscle weakness and falls, and because the symptoms, tiredness, aching and low mood, overlap with other deficiencies that are easy to test for at the same time. These are the tests we add when a result needs explaining, all bookable at the same clinic:
Questions people ask
What are the symptoms of vitamin D deficiency?
Most people with low vitamin D have no symptoms at all, which is why it is tested rather than diagnosed from symptoms. When there are symptoms they are tiredness, low mood (often worse in winter), aching bones, muscle aches or weakness, and getting more colds and infections than usual. Severe, long-standing deficiency causes bone softening (osteomalacia in adults, rickets in children) with bone pain and fractures. The same symptoms come from low iron, low B12 and an underactive thyroid, which is why they are often tested together.
What is a normal vitamin D level?
In the UK, 25-hydroxyvitamin D of 50 nmol/L or above is sufficient; 25 to 50 is insufficient and may be inadequate for some people; below 25 is deficient. Above 125 nmol/L brings no extra benefit and very high levels, above 250, can be harmful. The same thresholds apply to women and men and at every age, including pregnancy. If your result is in ng/mL (American reports), multiply by 2.5 to convert to nmol/L.
What does a vitamin D test measure?
It measures 25-hydroxyvitamin D, written 25(OH)D or “serum total 25-OH vitamin D” on a laboratory report. This is the storage form of the vitamin, made from sunlight, food and supplements over the previous two to three months, and it is the agreed marker of vitamin D status. The active hormone (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D) is not used for deficiency testing because the body keeps it stable until stores are very low.
How much does a private vitamin D test cost?
£50 at OneMedicine, which includes the laboratory test, a doctor’s review with advice on what to take, and a written report by email. There is no blood-draw fee at our Birmingham clinic. At a partner clinic elsewhere in the UK the blood-draw fee is £29, and a home visit in England is £60, charged once per visit however many tests you have.
Are supermarket or pharmacy vitamin D test kits accurate?
Finger-prick vitamin D kits from Tesco, Boots and online can be reasonably accurate when the sample is taken well and sent promptly, and they are a fair first screen. Where they fall short is the interpretation: you get a number and a traffic light, not a doctor reading it against your symptoms, your other results and your supplement dose, and a small or clotted sample is a common reason for no result at all. The laboratory venous test is the reference method, and ours includes the doctor’s review.
Do I need to fast before a vitamin D test?
No. Eat and drink normally, and keep taking any supplement you already take so the result shows whether the dose is enough. The only thing to stop is biotin (vitamin B7, in hair and nail supplements) for 48 hours, as it can interfere with the laboratory method.
What should I take if my vitamin D is low?
For an insufficient result (25 to 50 nmol/L) a daily supplement of 10 to 25 micrograms (400 to 1,000 IU) is usually enough. For a deficient result (below 25) doctors use a higher-dose course for a few weeks, then a maintenance dose; the dose and length are set by your doctor and depend on how low you are, your weight and your calcium level. Either way, a repeat test about three months later confirms the level has come up. Public Health England advises everyone in the UK to take 10 micrograms a day from October to March, and all year if you get little sun.
Can you have too much vitamin D?
Yes, but only from supplements, never from sunlight. Levels above 250 nmol/L, usually from taking very high doses for months, raise the calcium in the blood and cause nausea, vomiting, constipation, thirst, passing a lot of urine, confusion and, in time, kidney damage. Keep to the dose on the pack or the dose your doctor set, and retest rather than guess if you have been on a high dose for more than a few months.
Do low iron and low vitamin D go together?
Often, yes. They share causes (diet, poor absorption, heavy periods in women, long-term illness) and they share symptoms, tiredness, weakness, hair thinning and low mood, so one is easy to mistake for the other. Adding ferritin to the vitamin D test costs £55 from the same sample, and the active B12 completes the trio of deficiencies behind most unexplained tiredness.
How long do vitamin D test results take?
Results are usually emailed within 24 hours of the sample reaching the lab, often the same evening for a sample taken at the Birmingham clinic. Samples from partner clinics and home visits are couriered to the same laboratory and typically take one to two working days.
Read more
- Do I Need a Vitamin D Test?
- Which Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies Cause Fatigue?
- What Does a Bone Profile Check?
OneMedicine, 1 High Street, Kings Heath, Birmingham B14 7AR. Opposite Kings Heath railway station, on-site parking. CQC-registered.
