Table 6.
Resources for vitamin D status assessment and interventions
| Quality assessment: DEQAS (Vitamin D External Quality Assessment Scheme) is an organization whose objective is to ensure the analytical reliability of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2D) assays. They also provide certification to laboratories that meet their performance targets: http://www.deqas.org/ |
| Quality assessment: The Vitamin D Standardization-Certification Program (VDSCP) provides standards to laboratories: https://www.cdc.gov/labstandards/hs_standardization.html |
| Laboratory resources: The Global Laboratory Directory for the Assessment of Micronutrient Status (accepting information and will be publicly available soon) is a directory of laboratories that perform micronutrient status assessment, including for vitamin D. The directory is not an exhaustive source nor is any laboratory endorsed by WHO: https://extranet.who.int/laboratory_directory/ |
| MicronutrientStatusAssessmentDataRepository: The World Health Organization (WHO) Vitamin and Mineral Nutrition Information System (VMNIS) Data Repository is a publicly available and searchable database that includes summary results of population-based status assessment surveys carried out at the national and/or first administrative level in any country: http://www.who.int/vmnis/en/ |
| Micronutrient SurveyToolkit: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Nutrition International (NI) have compiled tools for micronutrient status surveys that can take the user from survey planning and design through implementation and data reporting: http://surveytoolkit.micronutrient.org/ |
| Sunlight availability: Meteorological sources can provide preliminary estimates of the available sunlight in the country: https://weather-and-climate.com/ |
| Fortification: The Food Fortification Initiative (FFI), the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), the Iodine Global Network (IGN), and the Micronutrient Forum have collaboratively developed the Global Fortification Data Exchange, a publicly available database of food fortification policies and standards: http://fortificationdata.org |
| Food-based interventions: The ODIN (Food-based solutions for optimal vitamin D Nutrition and health through the life cycle) project aims to provide high-quality scientific evidence to prevent vitamin D deficiency in European citizens and improve nutrition and public health through food: http://www.odin-vitd.eu/ |