Vitamin D, the powerful “sunshine” nutrient, is known for its many wonderful benefits including protection from multiple sclerosis, diabetes, cancer, and other diseases.
Written By: Kay Spears, CCN
Vitamin D, the powerful “sunshine” nutrient, is known for its many wonderful benefits including protection from multiple sclerosis, diabetes, cancer, and other diseases.
Vitamin D regulates the expression of genes that influence your immune system to attack and destroy bacteria and viruses. There are 30,000 genes in your body and vitamin D has been shown to influence over 2,000 of them. In fact, it is very rare for someone with optimized vitamin D levels to come down with the flu.
Perhaps because the term “vitamin D” contains the word “vitamin”, most people wrongly assume they can obtain adequate amounts by eating a healthy diet.
The natural diets most humans consume contain minimal vitamin D, unless those diets are rich in wild-caught fatty fish, sun-dried Shitake mushrooms, or wild reindeer meat. Small amounts of vitamin D are contained in fortified foods, such as fortified milk, some orange juices, and cereals, but such sources are minor contributors to vitamin D stores. Traditionally, the human vitamin D system began in the skin, not in the mouth.
Many are Deficient
People living in northern latitudes, African Americans, and other dark-skinned people make significantly less vitamin D than other groups.
60% of people with diabetes have vitamin D deficiency.
Body fat absorbs vitamin D. Obesity is a major risk factor for vitamin D deficiency, with obese African Americans at an even higher risk.
Studies showed very low levels of vitamin D among children, the elderly, and women.
In the United States, the late-winter vitamin D level in most people is only 15-18 ng/ml, which is a very serious deficiency level. Meanwhile, as many as 95 percent of senior citizens may be deficient, along with 85 percent of the American public.
How to Optimize Your Vitamin D Levels
The ideal way to get vitamin D is by exposing your skin to appropriate sunlight. Unfortunately, for most of us, there simply isn’t enough sun exposure available for nearly half of the year. However, even when sun is available, many of us are modern day cavemen. We spend the majority of the day when sun is availabe inside — at work or in our home. Too few are regularly out in the sun light.
A general guide for sun exposure (without sunscreen) is 10 to 15 minutes a day, with at least 40 percent of your skin exposed. Dark-skinned people need significantly longer exposure. It is important to understand that in the summertime, when you put on your bathing suit and soak up the sun for 30 minutes, your body produces about 20,000 IUs of vitamin D — as much as exists in 200 glasses of milk!
About Kay Spears