Vitamin D The rare vitamin we make.
Vitamin D, also known as calciferol, is a fat-soluble vitamin found in food, but also can be made in your body after exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun. Vitamin D exists in several forms, each form acting differently, some actually relatively inactive in our body. The liver and kidney help convert vitamin D to its active hormone form. Vitamin D helps ensure that the body absorbs and retains calcium and phosphorus, both critical for building bone. Laboratory studies also show that vitamin D keeps cancer cells from growing and dividing. The fat soluble vitamins are:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K
Vitamin D aids in the absorption of calcium, helping to form and maintain strong bones. It promotes bone mineralization along with a number of other vitamins, minerals, and hormones. Without vitamin D, bones can become thin, brittle, soft, or misshapen. Vitamin D prevents rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults, skeletal diseases that result in defects that cause weak bones and muscles.
Vitamin D, Do You need to supplement?
Do you need Vitamin D supplements? If you don't, or can't, get outside for at least a 15-minute daily walk in the sun. or you live north of the line connecting San Francisco to Philadelphia, odds are you don't get enough vitamin D. You should use a Vitamin D supplement if you are African-Americans and others with dark skin, they tend to have much lower levels of vitamin D, due to less formation of the vitamin from the action of sunlight on skin. A study of people admitted to a Boston hospital, for example, showed that 57% were deficient in vitamin D.
Canadian researcher, Dr. Reinhold Vieth, argued that current vitamin D recommendations are woefully inadequate. The recommended dose of 200-400 international units (IU) will prevent rickets in children but does not come close to the optimum amount necessary for vibrant health. He feels, the minimal daily requirement of vitamin D should be in the range of 4,000 IU from all sources, rather than the 200-400 currently suggested, or ten times the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA).
What Vitamin D supplement should you use.
The standard American diet provides vitamin D only in very low quantities. We need to supplement our diets with vitamin D. In persons that lived till a hundred years old, high levels of vitamin D in the blood and normal thyroid function were the strongest markers of health and longevity. Very few foods naturally contain vitamin D. Good sources include dairy products and breakfast cereals (which are fortified with vitamin D), and fatty fish such as salmon and tuna. For most people, the best way to get the recommended daily intake is by taking a vitamin supplement.
Some very good products are Vitamin D, Vitamin C and Vitamin A Due to the very low Vitamin D levels in the diet a quality Vitamin D supplement is the best way to assure you have enough Vitamin D for optimal health.