Why we need Vitamin D?
What is Vitamin D and how does it work in our body?
Vitamin D is making sure your muscles, heart, lungs and brain work well. It is a very important for overall health, giving us strong bones and helps our body to fight against infection.
The level of Vitamin D in our body is depends on how much we get from sunlight we exposed and the type of food we eat. Also supplementation can play a big part to provide us the good level of Vitamin D. Your body will use it to take care of calcium in your blood, bones and gut and your body cells.
Your body needs this Vitamin to keep your body in good health and to fight illness and heal well. Sunlight can help your body to produce Vitamin D and to make your bones stronger. From the recent research show that Vitamin D plays a very important role in the fight against some long terms health issues. When your body produces Vitamin D, it turns into a hormone call “Activated Vitamin D” or “Calcitriol”.
Expose your skin to sunlight regularly doesn’t mean that your body will produce sufficient Vitamin D you need. You also need to get it from food you eat and best way is to take supplements regularly. Calcium and phosphorus are essential for developing your health bones structure. We need Vitamin D to absorb these minerals in your body to maintain your bones are in good condition.
Some of the functions of the body that vitamin D helps with include:
Immune system, which helps you to fight infection
Muscle function
Cardiovascular function, for a healthy heart and circulation
Respiratory system –for healthy lungs and airways
Brain development
Anti-cancer effects
When your body doesn’t get enough Vitamin D, it called Vitamin D deficiency that can cause a condition called ‘Rickets’ for children and ‘Osteomalacia’ for adults. In both cases will cause soft, thin and brittle bones. It can also linked to cancer, asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, Alzheimer, multiple sclerosis and crohn’s diseases.
On a daily basis, your liver received Vitamin D when you expose your skin to the sunlight, eat foods or take supplements. Your liver will use the Vitamin D and change into a substance called 25(OH)D. It helps to manage calcium in your blood, bones and gut. Also help cells all over your body to communicate properly. Therefore, without or lack of Vitamin D, your body can’t perform at its best.
How do I get Vitamin D my body needs?
Although you can get Vitamin D from sunlight, because large amount of Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) are made in your skin when you expose your skin to the sunlight. It only takes a short time to make between 10,000 to 25,000 IU (International Unit) of Vitamin D your body needs in one day. You also have to consider the area of your body receive the sunlight either in large areas when you are sun bathing or just your face and arm. But depends on your skin type and the risk of getting burn, and in worst case you can suffer skin cancer.
The amount of vitamin D you get from exposing your bare skin to the sun depends on:
The time of day – your skin produces more Vitamin D during the mid day sun
Depends on where you live – how many hours a day sunlight available
Depends on your skin color – darker skins make less Vitamin D than pale skins
Depends on your skin expose to the sunlight – the larger areas exposure will get more Vitamin D
Other factors of which can affect the amount of Vitamin D, your body produces from exposure to the sunlight too:
Your age – the older you are, your skin produce less Vitamin D
If you are using sunscreen – it will block a lot of Vitamin D production
The altitude you are at – sunlight is more intense on top of the mountain and you get more Vitamin D
If it is a cloudy day – less UVB reaches your skin blocked by the cloud and you get less Vitamin D
Air pollution – it soaks up the UVB which will reflects back into the space, so you get less Vitamin D
Behind glass – again it blocks all UVB from your skin, so you can’t make Vitamin D
Most are concerning about exposing your skin to the sun too much will either get burn or getting skin cancer. But by protecting your skin from the sun will not get Vitamin D your body needs. You can never get enough Vitamin D from what we eat daily. Therefore, the best way to get Vitamin D to your body needs is through supplementation. It can be from tablets and capsules or even liquid forms. Vitamin D3 is the best kind of supplement to take.
The amount of Vitamin D you should take daily can be varying recommend from different organizations. Some recommends taking larger amount, but for those with health problems or currently are taking certain medicines, you may need to take extra care.
Different organizations recommend different amounts of vitamin D supplement to take each day. The Vitamin D Council recommends taking larger amounts of vitamin D each day than other organizations, because smaller amounts aren’t enough to give you what your body needs. Most people can take vitamin D supplements with no problems. However, if you have certain health problems or take certain medicines, you may need to take extra care.
Recommended daily intakes from various organizations:
Various organisations Food and Nutrition Board
Infants 400 - 1,000 IU/day 400 IU/day
Children 600 - 1,000 IU/day per 600 IU/day
25 lbs of body weight
Adults 1500 - 5,000 IU/day 600 IU/day, 800 IU/day
for seniors
Depends on which countries you are living in, you need to find out their daily recommendation.
Why are the recommendations so different? Some researchers believe that there isn’t enough evidence to support taking higher amounts of vitamin D yet. On the other hand, some researchers believe that research is proving, or will prove, that taking lower amounts isn’t enough.
Can I take more than the recommended amounts?
Yes you can but you have to make sure to take attention and follow the upper limits below
Upper limits set by various organizations:
Various organisations Food and Nutrition Board
Infants 2,000 IU/day 1,000-1,500 IU/day
Children 2,000 – 4,000 IU/day per 2,500-3,000 IU/day
25 lbs of body weight
Adults 10,000 IU/day 4,000 IU/day
Please do aware that Vitamin D is fat-soluble, therefore, your body will have hard time to get rid of it if you take too much. The upper limited for adults should be not more than 10,000 IU / day. Don’t forget with little or more sun exposure also gives you more Vitamin D too. So watch your limit and avoid Vitamin D toxicity, which can be harmful if your body exceed 40,000 IU / day for couple of months. However, in some extreme cases for disease like multiple sclerosis and prostate cancer, research has shown there may be a benefit in taking larger amount of Vitamin D. If you do please work with your doctor and test your Vitamin D (25(OH)D) levels every 3 months.
Questions and Answers:
Q. What form of Vitamin D should I take and how do I take it?
A. You should take Vitamin D3 because your body produces this kind of vitamin from sun exposure. The other Vitamin D is not. However, if you are vegetarian, then you have to take Vitamin D2 instead. It is really doesn’t matter whether they are tablet, capsule or liquid drop form, you can take any of these and don’t worry about what time of the day, before or after meal or not.
Q. What if I’m having trouble absorbing vitamin D supplements?
A. If your body is having problem to absorb your Vitamin D intake, then you should consider trying these options:
Take vitamin D under your tongue rather than swallowing it (sublingually).
Try relying on more sun exposure.
Increase your intake but make sure you test your Vitamin D level every 3-6 months.
Q. Can anyone take vitamin D supplements?
A. Anyone can take Vitamin D supplements except the following situations:
If you are currently taking certain medication for irregular heartbeat, hydrochlorothiazide, or treatment for high blood pressure. Don’t take high doses of Vitamin D and to check your digoxin level closely.
If you have any kidney, liver or hormonal disease, hyperparathyroidism, or granulomatous disease or any illness that concerns you, then you must get advice from specialist.
If you have high blood calcium levels.
If you are taking any medication that interferes with Vitamin D, again if in any doubt, seek advice from specialist.
Q. Can I get sun exposure and take supplements?
A. Yes indeed. In fact we should have both regularly.
Q. Can I get vitamin D from my diet?
A. There are small amounts of vitamin D in a few foods, which makes it nearly impossible to get what you need from food. However, these foods include:
Fatty fish
Beef liver
Egg yolks
Fortified milk and orange juice
Fortified cereals
Infant formula
I hope you find the above information useful and seriously consider to take the Vitamin D3 supplement daily. I would welcome the opportunity to be able to have an informal chat with you anytime.
Cary Lam
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