A Deficiency of Vitamin D can lead to serious health threats like Cancer, Autism, Diabetes, Asthma, Osteoporosis, Autoimmune Diseases. This has now been backed by Science after multiple research studies. When tests were conducted, 90% of American adults were found to be deficient in Vitamin D. Optimizing your vitamin D levels may be one of the most important steps you can take in support of your long-term health.
I will try to touch base on all the important aspects that one should know before deciding if they should spend resources on this. I was at one point in time standing in your place when I had to take this decision and unfortunately, I spent hours on multiple medical articles to extract the information that was important for me to take this decision. In this following article, I already did this for you.
What Vitamin D Does To Your Body?
We take and invest money in supplements advised by the medical experts, but we never get to know if our body is absorbing these supplements. Even if you eat only healthy food and lack one vitamin only, other vitamins are not being absorbed. Un-absorbed vitamins are dangerous and expensive. Dangerous because it will absorb in unwanted areas of the body like arteries and will block them. Expensive because you will excrete them in your urine. This is where vitamin D comes into the picture.
For e.g., if you are calcium deficient and are taking calcium-rich food or supplements, your body would not absorb calcium in the absence of vitamin D. In the same way vitamin D is also responsible for enhancing intestinal absorption of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphate, and zinc. So a Vitamin D deficiency leads to the deficiency of other minerals and vitamins in the body. Read here about little-known Natural sources of Calcium It also reduces inflammation in the body and assists your muscles and nervous system to function properly.
Vitamin D Helps To Prevent A Large Number Of Diseases
Vitamin D And Pregnancy
Expert Dr Carol Wagnor is raising global awareness about the importance of optimal vitamin D levels for women's and children's health. Optimizing your vitamin D levels during pregnancy and breastfeeding reduces your child's risk of Autism, MS and other chronic health conditions for your child.
Dosage is also very important. Doctors recommend about 400 IU to the pregnant women. But, research shows that women that took around 4000 IU per day benefited the most. Vitamin D supports healthy bone development in your baby and helps to prevent preterm births and infections.
Vitamin D For Children With Autism
An Egyptian research team evaluated the addition of vitamin D supplementation to the treatment plan for children with autism and found the children's symptoms were positively affected by the increased levels of vitamin D.
Vitamin D And Cancer
Public health authorities recommend that people should reduce their exposure to sunlight due to skin cancer dangers. But, data has shown that outdoor workers have a lower incidence of melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer, than indoor workers. In fact, it cuts the risk for a variety of cancers like pancreatic, lung, ovarian, breast, prostate, and skin cancers.
The incidence of breast cancer could be reduced by 50% and colon cancer by 80% Vitamin D also helped to kill and reduce cancer cells altogether.
Direct Connection Between Vitamin D Deficiency And Heart Diseases
We all know that inflammation in the body contributes directly to heart problems. People who took Vitamin D for 9 months have a 43% increase in anti-inflammatory substances in their body. The anti-inflammatory effects of Vitamin D have proven to be beneficial in the treatment and prevention of diseases caused by inflammation in the body like Rheumatoid Arthritis, Autoimmune Disorders like Multiple sclerosis (MS), and Inflammatory bowel disease like Chron´s disease.
Also, in order for blood to be pumped efficiently to all parts of the body, heart muscles should be strong. Vitamin D has the ability to help the body absorb calcium from the food keeping the bones and heart muscles strong.
The Connection Between Vitamin D Deficiency And Diabetes
Diabetic people either lack insulin or have inadequate insulin secretion. Since calcium is necessary for insulin secretion, and calcium metabolism is dependent upon Vitamin D. We can say that Vitamin D contributes to maintaining insulin secretion. Therefore Vitamin D is helpful in the management and prevention of both Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes
Vitamin D reduces Depression and neuropathic pains
Its advantages have been seen not only on physical health but also on neurological disorders as well like Depression.
WOW! This covers more than 60% of common health disease. That's how powerful vitamin D is in disease prevention!! Start taking it today, start NOW!
Symptoms Of Vitamin D Deficiency
The symptoms of vitamin D deficiency are very easy to ignore. But they slowly paralyze your body leading to many more diseases on the way. Some of the common symptoms that most people ignore are:
1. Bone Ache And Muscle Weakness
Because of Bone ache and muscle weakness, a person deficient in vitamin D may feel fatigued all the time. You may get fatigued after some heavy physical exertion as well. But if it remains for days it is advised to check your Vitamin D levels.
2. Head Sweating
According to Dr. Holick, one of the first, signs of vitamin D deficiency is a sweaty head. If your newborn sweats a lot, please get his Vitamin D levels checked. Here in Germany doctors advise supplementing newborns with 500 IU of Vitamin D every day. Especially kids born in winter.
3. Feeling Depressed
In review studies, researchers have linked vitamin D deficiency to depression, particularly in older adults.
4. Impaired Wound Healing
It has been found that people with sufficient levels of Vitamin D healed better. It plays a crucial role in skin repair.
5. Chronic Infections
If you get sick, including flu or normal cold, more than normal, this could be a vitamin D deficiency. A deficiency of this miraculous nutrient directly compromises your immunity, hence, making you more susceptible to potentially harmful bacteria and other foreign invaders.
6. Reduced Endurance
Athletes challenge themselves steadily. They want to achieve more in every new session. If you are an athlete and without any reason, your endurance level is going down, this could be due to lack of Vitamin D.
The Best Sources Of Vitamin D
Vitamin D is called the “Sunshine” vitamin. Earlier, you may never have heard of Vitamin D deficiency. People used to work outside in the sun without sunscreens. Unfortunately, with a change in the lifestyle of working indoor, more and more problems are emerging out in absence of Sun.
How Much Sunlight Is Safe For Vitamin D?
It is recommended that you should try to get 15 minutes of sun on full-body, at least twice a week. As little 20 minutes of sunlight exposure produces 20,000 international units (IU). And just 6 days of casual sunlight exposure without sunscreen can make up for 50 days of no sunlight exposure. Body fat acts like a kind of storage battery for vitamin D.
During periods of sunlight, vitamin D is stored in the fatty tissues and then released in the blood, when there is no sunlight available. Sunlight has UV-A and UV-B rays. UV-B is the ones beneficial for the body. UV-B rays are most intense between 10.00 am and 02.00 pm. So start taking Vitamin D into your body during your holidays. Lay on a beach and Relax!
Just be cautious about the length of your exposure to the sun. You only need enough exposure to have your skin turn the lightest shade of pink if you have white skin. Once you reach this point your body will not make any additional vitamin D due to its self-regulating mechanism. Any additional exposure will only cause harm and damage to your skin.
If you have a Darker skin: you may need as much as 10 times more sun exposure to produce the same amount of vitamin D as a person with pale skin When the sunshine is not an option:
Second Best Natural Sources Of Vitamin D Is From Foods
Foods high in Vitamin D are:
- Fatty fish
- Lard (Pork Fat)
- RAW Milk
- Egg yolks
Food alone cannot meet our demand for Vitamin D, For example, the highest source of Vitamin D is Fatty Fish. 100 Grams of fish will not have more than 1000 IU of Vitamin D. Sunlight together with foods high in Vitamin D would be the best choice. These days you can see Vitamin D fortified foods on the grocery shelves. Please be careful with these foods as they have vitamin D-2 and not D-3.
Safe Tanning Beds
The light emitted from tanning beds contains UVB rays. These are the same type of rays emitted from the sun that creates Vitamin D through contact with the skin. Limited exposure in a tanning bed can increase Vitamin D levels in your body. Before you decide on a tanning bed, ask the owner if it is constructed with Electronic ballast or magnetic ballast.
You should definitely go for only Electronic ballast one. The magnetic one emits harmful rays responsible for skin diseases like cancer. But, if you absolutely can’t get enough sunshine and you don't want to Tan more like me, there are supplements available.
Vitamin D Deficiency Supplements
Vitamin D deficiency supplements come in two forms:
- Ergocalciferol (vitamin D-2)
- Cholecalciferol (vitamin D-3)
According to the latest research, D-3 produces 3x greater storage of vitamin D than D-2 does. Vitamin D-3 is converted 500 per cent faster than vitamin D-2. If you have decided to take oral Vitamin D, for whatever reason, it is strongly recommended having your blood levels checked to determine how much Vitamin D your body really needs before taking any supplements.
Vitamin D Supplement Dosage
It is only 15 years ago that vitamin D tests became commercially available.
Test
The first step is to have a 25-hydroxy vitamin D (known as a 25-OH-D) blood test done. (The 1.25-dihydroxy vitamin D test that many physicians use are ineffective.) This test is available for purchase without a doctor's prescription. The best Vitamin D supplement I found on the market is this one. It's with vitamin K and Sea Iodine.
Vitamin D Right Dosage
Your vitamin D level should be between 50 and 70 nanograms per millilitre. Approximately, a person should try to get 1000IU/12 kgs of body weight. I personally take vitamin D-3 and K-2 supplement every morning.
Toxicity Of Vitamin D
If you are relying on the Sunshine for Vitamin D it is impossible to be overdosed with Vitamin D, as your body has the ability to self-regulate and only make what it needs. Vitamin D toxicity is rare. Research has shown, an average adult taking 8,000 IU's of vitamin D per day elevates the level just above 40 ng/ml. This is the minimal level for disease prevention. Ideal vitamin D supplement dosage levels are 50-70 ng/ml.
And if you are supplementing together with K-2, the chances of Vitamin D-3 toxicity further slims down. Vitamin K will not allow vitamin D to deposit in the arteries Carole Baggerly, director and founder of GrassrootsHealth writes: “We just published our very first paper. We have about 10 people in this study now that are taking 50,000 IU a day and they're not reaching a potential toxicity level of 200 ng/ml. It should be noted, however, that this is not a recommended intake level.
While taking vitamin D supplements if you feel abnormal heart rhythm and mentally confused, see a doctor immediately. If you have a condition called “Hypercalcemia” meaning excess calcium in the blood, do not take Vitamin D, as it will cause excess calcium to block the arteries, so it is advisable to get your vitamin D levels checked.
Vitamin D Interactions With Other Nutrients
Vitamin A
It could be possible that you are deficient in Vitamin D because your Multivitamin or you are eating foods very high in Vitamin A. Vitamin A is available in so many foods that we very easily reach the recommended daily value of approx. 700 mcg for Adults.
Calcium
Vitamin D helps in calcium absorption, hence helping in bone development.
Vitamin K
Vitamin D together with Vitamin K-2 is your best way to take a Vitamin D supplement. Vitamin D helps with absorbing the calcium and vitamin K-2 helps to prevent calcium from being absorbed in the wrong places in the body.
Since you have seen the tremendous advantage of this nutrient. Add it to your diet and I also recommend to add to your parent's diet. Since they are the one who needs it the most. Feel free to share below in comments, what are you doing to optimize your Vitamin D levels?
