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Natural Vitamin D ...
The high rate of natural production of vitamin D3 in the skin is the single most important fact every person should know about vitamin D because it has such profound implications for the natural human condition.
The nutritionally important forms of Vitamin D in man are Calceferol (Vitamin D2) and Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3) Calciferol may be derived by irradiation of the plant sterol, ergosterol, Cholecalciferol is the naturally occurring (Performed Vitamin D which is found in animal fats and fish liver oils. It is also derived from exposure to UV rays of the sunlight which converts the cholesterol in the skin to vitamin D. Vitamin D is stored in the fat depots.
Vitamin D is a steroid hormone precursor that has recently been found to play a role in a wide variety of diseases. Current research indicates vitamin D deficiency plays a role in causing 17 varieties of cancer, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects and periodontal disease.
Vitamin d is unique because it is derived both from sunlight and foods
(a) Sunlight: The body synthesizes Vitamin D by the action of UV rays of sunlight of dehydrocholesterol, which is stored in large abundance in the skin. Exposure to UV rays is critical; these can be filtered off by air pollution. Dark-skinned aces such as Negroes also suffer from this disadvantage because black skin can filter off up to 95 percent of UV rays.
(b) Foods: Vitamin occurs by only in the foods of animal origin. Liver, egg yolk, butter and cheese and some species of fish contain useful amounts. Fish liver oils, although not considered to be a food, are the richest sources of Vitamin d. Human milk has recently been shown to contain considerable amounts of water-soluble vitamin D sulfate. Other sources of vitamin D are foods artificially fortified with vitamin D, such as milk, margarine, vanaspathi and infant foods.
Vitamin D, Sunshine, and Your Health
- If you totally avoid the sun, recent research indicates you need about 4,000 units of vitamin D a day! Which means you can't get enough vitamin D from milk (unless you drink 40 glasses a day) or from a multivitamin (unless you take about 10 tablets a day), neither of which is recommended.
- Most of us make about 20,000 units of vitamin D after about 20 minutes of summer sun. This is about 100 times more vitamin D than the government says you need every day.
- The only way to be sure you have adequate levels of vitamin D in your blood is to regularly go into the sun, use a sun bed (avoiding sunburn), or have your physician administer a 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood test. Optimal levels are around 50 ng/mL (125 nM/L).
- If you don't get vitamin D the way Mother Nature intended, from sunshine, you need to take supplemental vitamin D3 cholecalciferol. Since most of us get a lot more vitamin D from sunshine than we realize, most of us need about 2,000 units a day extra.