Vitamin D - The Sunshine Vitamin

A sunshine vitamin? That's what Vitamin D is considered to be.

That’s because it’s made in your skin when exposed to sunlight.  Vitamin D is a nutrient your body needs for building and maintaining healthy bones. That's because your body can only absorb calcium, the primary component of bone, when vitamin D is present. Did you know that every cell in your body has a receptor for Vitamin D?

Vitamin D is considered to be absolutely essential for good health

Vitamin D is involved in many processes in your body. It's a fat-soluble vitamin in a family of compounds that includes vitamins D-1, D-2, and D-3. It has several important functions. One is that our immune systems need vitamin D to fight off invading bacteria and viruses!

Regulating the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, and facilitating normal immune system function are super-important functions of this vitamin. Getting enough vitamin D is important for normal growth and development of bones and teeth, mood regulation, and improved resistance against certain diseases. It's also involved in many processes including cell growth, neuromuscular function, and glucose metabolism.

As we've mentioned in other blogs, the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, & K are present in foods containing fats. Your body absorbs these vitamins as it does dietary fats and they can actually be stored for up to 6 months until your body needs them.

Sunlight = Vitamin D

Your body makes Vitamin D when direct sunlight converts a chemical in your skin into an active form of the vitamin (calciferol.) The amount of Vitamin D your skin makes depends on many factors, including the time of day, season, latitude and your skin pigmentation. Depending on where you live and your lifestyle, the amount of Vitamin D production in your body might decrease or be completely absent during the winter

Getting Vitamin D from food sources

There are two forms of vitamin D in the diet:
•    Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol): found in some mushrooms.
•    Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol): found in oily fish, fish liver oil and egg yolks. (D3 is considered to be the more powerful of the two types.)

Interestingly enough,  very few foods naturally contain Vitamin D. Because of this, some foods are fortified. This means that Vitamin D has been added. Foods that contain Vitamin D include:
•    salmon
•    sardines
•    egg yolk
•    shrimp
•    milk (fortified)
•    cereal (fortified)
•    yogurt (fortified)
•    orange juice (fortified)

Why is Vitamin D so important?

You can get Vitamin D through sunlight, certain foods, and/or supplements to ensure adequate levels of the vitamin in your blood.

However, in spite of those methods, Vitamin D deficiency is considered to be one of the most common nutrient deficiencies in the world. Some of the most common symptoms of deficiency include fatigue, impaired wound healing, muscle pain, and hair loss.

Vitamin D is important for the function of immune cells.  Not having enough Vitamin D in your system has been linked to a higher risk of upper respiratory infections, such as the cold or flu.

Vitamin D can have a powerful impact on mood and may even aid in the prevention of conditions like depression, according to a number of studies. These studies have shown a link between vitamin D deficiency and depression. Researchers behind a 2013 meta-analysis noticed that the study participants with depression also had low vitamin D levels. The same analysis found that, statistically, people with low vitamin D were at a much greater risk of depression. (1)
 
The researchers believed that because vitamin D is important to healthy brain function, insufficient nutrient levels may play a role in depression and other mental illnesses. An earlier 2005 study identified vitamin D receptors in the same areas of the brain associated with depression. (2)

Adding a Vitamin D supplement that contains Vitamin D3, also known as cholecalciferol, would be a great option for your daily routine

D3-5000 is a high-potency vitamin D supplement by Dynamic Nutritional Associates (DNA Labs). D3-5000 is designed to support indications of poor bone health, inflammation, immune system imbalance, and low mood.

From NuMedica, we also have a water-soluble high potency Micellized D3, a natural, soy free, form of Vitamin D and Micellized D3 + K2, a soy free, natural vitamin D3 and vitamin K2 in a water-soluble micellized form, that includes the patented VitaMK7, a natural vitamin K2 (as MK7) which supports enhanced utilization of calcium in the bloodstream.


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