Vitamin D - Facts

Vitamin D - Facts

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin. It is important for bone health. Having vitamin D in your diet will maintain the proper levels of calcium and phosphorus in your blood.

These two minerals are needed to build strong bones.  Vitamin D also helps keep the immune system functioning normally helping the body resist some types of disease.In adults, getting too little vitamin D can lead to osteoporosis or osteopenia (weak bones). In children, too little can result in rickets. Signs of rickets are muscle weakness, bowed legs, or knocked knees.Other effects of vitamin D are being studied. Some studies suggest adequate vitamin D may protect against certain cancers and lower risk of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. Other studies suggest high blood levels of vitamin D may increase the risk of pancreatic and colorectal cancer in some people. More research is needed to establish how vitamin D affects risk of chronic disease.

Dissolves in fat but not in water

Where do you get vitamin D?
You have three sources:
1. Sunlight-in spring, summer, and fall your skin can make it for you. Exposing your arms and legs to sunshine for 15-30 minutes at mid-day will provide all the vitamin D you need for that day. However, sunscreen with a protection factor of 8 or higher reduces your skin’s ability to make vitamin D by more than 95 percent.
2. Foods-Natural sources are oily fish like sardines, salmon, and mackerel; cod liver oil; and eggs. Milk, some orange juice, and cereals can be fortified with vitamin D.
3. Supplements-both multivitamins and single doses of vitamin D are available. Supplements  may contain vitamin D2 or vitmain D3. Both D2 and D3 appear to be equally usable by the body.

On the issue of sunlight exposure, by the way, it turns out that super antioxidants greatly boost your body's ability to handle sunlight without burning. Astaxanthin is one of the most powerful "internal sunscreens" and can allow you to stay under the sun twice as long without burning.

Other powerful antioxidants with this ability include the super fruits like Acai, Pomegranates (POM Wonderful juice), blueberries, etc.