What is vitamin D?

Have you ever seen pictures of you outside your home in broad daylight when you were a baby? Or do you remember your parents telling you to go out and bathe in the sunlight early in the morning? It’s because sun light exposure helps in producing a certain kind of vitamin, called vitamin D, a steroid vitamin, and a group of fat-soluble prohormones that promote the metabolism and absorption of phosphorus and calcium.

A common mistake that we believe in is that exposing ourselves to sunlight would be like injecting vitamin D, which is not true at all, for it is statically present in the body and needs to be stimulated through sunlight exposure, and will then undergo certain processes and reactions, in order to be stimulated in the body. The active Vitamin D then is called calcitrol. Another fallacy is that the more heat we expose ourselves into, the better it is for our health – which is actually untrue – for only adequate amounts are needed for synthesis and too much sun exposure would become dangerous.

We do not only limit the sources of vitamin D through sunlight exposure, for it can also be acquired through certain kinds of foods and through supplementation. Food sources of Vitamin D are contained in very few foods. Best sources include flesh of fatty fish such as tuna, salmon, mackerel and fish liver oils. Other foods that contain Vitamin D in very few amounts include cheese, beef liver, egg yolk, mushrooms, fortified foods and sardines. Vitamin D is also available through supplementation in two forms, D2 (also known as ergocalciferol) and D3 (also referred to as cholecalciferol). These 2 kinds of Vitamin D are what seems to matter to humans more, though there are other types of Vitamin D like Vitamin D1, Vitamin D4 or 22-dihydroergocalciferol and Vitamin D5 or sitocalciferol which are collectively referred as calciferol.

It is important that we make sure that Vitamin D levels are maintained, for too much and too less of it will bring harm and danger to the human body. Too much Vitamin D may cause non-specific symptoms like anorexia, weight loss and heart arrhythmias and too less of it may cause many kinds of deficiency diseases. These include rickets for children, a disease resulting in soft bones and skeletal deformities, and osteomalacia for adults that result to weak bones. Other disorders that are related to deficiency in Vitamin D are osteoporosis, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, glucose intolerance and multiple sclerosis. People in danger of deficiency of Vitamin D include older adults, breastfed infants, and people with restricted exposure to sunlight, dark skin, poor fat digestion and obesity.

Getting the sufficient amount of Vitamin D that the body needs will bring forth numerous health benefits. Vitamin D, in total, acts as an immune system regulator and arms the immune system against disorders. It also reduces the risk of multiple sclerosis, asthma symptoms, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. Vitamin D also performs a key role in helping the brain for healthy functioning in the later life, maintaining healthy body weight and acts as the body’s protection against damages from low level radiation.

Healthy Body from Vitamin D

According to the National Institutes of Health, almost 53% of us have not been getting Vitamin D from sources such as sunlight exposure and food. This ratio presses an alarming situation for more than half are being deprived of the chance to acquire the benefits of adequate Vitamin D intake. Current guidelines suggest 600 to 800 IU daily; however, researchers believe that we need at least as much as 4000 IU. While getting the right amount of Vitamin D had been reported to provide a wide range of benefits from steering clear of depression to preventing heart diseases, here are the top 3 reasons why I encourage you to get more of the sunshine vitamin.

• It helps fight Cancer

  A study presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology suggests that low Vitamin D levels have been observed in almost 77% of cancer patients and advanced cancer is related to the lowest vitamin D levels. Another study carried out by the Cancer Treatment Centers of America says that deficiency in Vitamin D is prevalent in cancer patients in spite of nutritional status. Various studies have also shown that significantly lower risks of cancer are observed in people with adequate vitamin D levels, though further research is being conducted to discover further use of Vitamin D against cancer.

• It helps improve Asthma

  After monitoring 616 Costa Rican children, Harvard Medical School Researchers found out that Vitamin D may reduce the frequency and severity of asthma symptoms, as well as the odds of hospitalization due to asthma. Previous studies have proven that low vitamin D levels could make the symptoms of asthma worse, but current developments have found out that the lack of the sunshine vitamin could endanger children with treatment-resistant asthma as the deficiency can make breathing harder by increasing smooth muscle mass in the airway as seen in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

• It helps prevent Diabetes

  Getting enough Vitamin D gives a persona a lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, as suggested by a study published in the October 2011 issue of Diabetes Care as experts hypothesize that the protection provided by the sunshine vitamin against diabetes might be because of its anti-inflammatory properties. Researchers from the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing at the Loyola University located in Chicago have published in Diabetes Educator that those who have already been diagnosed with diabetes can delay its onset and prevent complications by getting adequate amounts of Vitamin D. It is also suggested that people at risk for diabetes must be screened for the possibility of low Vitamin D levels to address the insufficiency earlier.

  As Vitamin D contributes numerous benefits to certain chronic diseases, diet alone is not sufficient to control the vitamin D levels. Adequate intake of Vitamin D from different sources is needed, such as sun exposure and provision of supplements Vitamin D2 and D3, to enjoy the benefits that one could achieve from getting enough Vitamin D like decreasing risk of chronic diseases and similar health conditions.

Sources
nhs.uk
prevention.com
medicalnewstoday.com
medicalnewstoday.com
blogs.prevention.com