With it currently being winter here in North America, and also cold in a lot of other places, we are all indoors a lot more of the time and not out in the sunshine getting our vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential because it influences your entire body.
Receptors that respond to the vitamin have been found in almost every type of human cell, from your brain to your bones. It is also involved in multiple repair and maintenance functions. It touches thousands of different genes. It regulates your immune system, and much, much more. Vitamin D regulates your ability to fight infections and chronic inflammation. It produces over 200 antimicrobial peptides. (1)
Vitamin D is a prohormone, which means the body converts it into an active form named calcitriol. A deficiency of calcitriol may be responsible for more than autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis, osteoarthritis, hypertension/high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, genetic disorders, and more than 17 types of cancer. It may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.(2)
Rickets (bone softening) is a disease caused by Vitamin D deficiency. Sounds a lot like osteoporosis, doesn’t it? If you have a bone problem, have your Vitamin D checked. Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to cancer. Check with your physician to make certain the level of Vitamin D in your blood is optimal.
The body makes its own Vitamin D from cholesterol when your skin is exposed to sunlight. Vitamin D is essential for everyone, not just vegetarians. According to Dr. Elizabeth Plourde, if you wear sunscreen, the sunscreen blocks that process.
Studies show approximately 85 percent of the US population is critically low in Vitamin D. (3) It may be the use of sunscreen or it may be working and staying indoors most of the day which prevents people from getting enough direct sunlight on their skin and therefore getting that necessary Vitamin D.
Get some sunshine! Get out in the sun every day for at least 20 minutes without sunscreen. The more skin that is exposed, the more sunlight you can absorb. During the winter months, it may be harder or even impossible to get the necessary amount of Vitamin D from the sun. Full-spectrum lighting indoors can significantly help with depression, mood, and health, but it is not a substitute for real Vitamin D from the sun or quality Vitamin D supplements.
Very few foods contain good levels of Vitamin D. Parsley, mushrooms that have been exposed to ultraviolet light, fortified orange juice, some milk, and cod liver oil have Vitamin D in them, but a supplement is still needed. Cod liver oil is the food with the highest concentration of Vitamin D, but for vegetarians and vegans this is not an acceptable way to ingest the vitamin.
The Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board sets the RDA for Vitamin D at 600 IU (800 IU for people over 70). Many doctors think this is far too low. (4) Dr. Joseph Mercola writes: Heather Chappell of the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) has stated that the organization will not lower their recommendations—which is currently 1,000 IUs per day, based on the Vitamin D cancer research done by Dr. Heaney and Dr. Lappé—because the IOM recommendations cover bone health only… Bone health depends at least as much on Vitamin D as on calcium… And the CCS is still concerned about Vitamin D deficiency and cancer. (5)
On Science News, Janet Raloff asked: How much Vitamin D do studies suggest most US residents need? Probably at least 1,000 IU per day, Dr.’s Holick and Heaney agree. Indeed, Heaney concludes in his October paper… a minimum daily intake of some 2,600 IU of Vitamin D per day would be needed to meet the needs of 97 percent of US residents. (6)
According to Dr. J Leonard Lichtenfeld, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the American Cancer Society, Americans continue to wait for more randomized control trials before addressing their Vitamin D deficiencies, even though a large number of epidemiology studies indicate Vitamin D deficiency is a common finding in people of all age groups around the world.
I had a friend whose back started to hurt so badly he could barely stand it. Months later, after excruciating pain and unbelievable amounts of testing, they found he was critically low in Vitamin D. With some intense Vitamin D supplementation, he started to feel much better and is now back to his healthy state of being.
I get an abundant amount of sunlight every day, and I live in Texas, so I thought I had an optimum level of Vitamin D in my body. I had my doctor test me, only to find out I was on the low end of optimum. This was even during the summer, so I was quite surprised! I now take around 5000 – 6000 IUs of Vitamin D a day, especially in the winter.
Please be sure to get your maximum levels of Vitamin D intake daily. If you have a darker skin pigment or you over 50, you will actually need even more Vitamin D to keep your body strong and healthy.
In closing, dance in the sunlight and your keep your body strong and healthy!
Sources:
1. Wilson, Lawrence. (2014, October). “Vitamin D.” DrWilson. Retrieved from http://www.drlwilson.com/ARTICLES/VITAMIN%20D.htm 2. Douillard, John. (2010, March 4). “Sun Exposure: Don’t Be Fooled by Your Sunscreen.” Lifespa. Retrieved from http://www.lifespa.com/dont-be-fooled-by-your- sunscreen/
3. Wilson, Lawrence. (2014, October). “Vitamin D.” DrWilson. Retrieved from http://www.drlwilson.com/ARTICLES/VITAMIN%20D.htm 4. National Institutes of Health. “Vitamin D Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.” Retrieved from http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD- HealthProfessional/
5. Mercola, Joseph. (2010, December 11). “Why the New Vitamin D Recommendations Spell Disaster for Your Health.” Retrieved from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/1 2/11/vitamin-d-update-carole-baggerly-and-dr- cannell.aspx
6. Raloff, Janet. (2005, November 10). “Vitamin D Boosts Calcium Potency.” Science News. Retrieved from https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/food- thought/vitamin-d-boosts-calcium-potency
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