The Magical, Mysterious Vitamin D

For years we have been hearing about vitamin D deficiency and the long list of illnesses that it can be linked to. While I don't tend to believe in magic bullets, this is one case where I'm going to have to make an exception.

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to such illnesses as cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, depression, chronic fatigue and general immune dysfunction......and the list goes on.

Ever stop and wonder why the cold and flu season exists? Is it a coincidence that it falls during the autumn and winter months when we spend more time indoors? Without all of that lovely, beneficial sunshine our vitamin D stores take a real plummet, and considering vitamin D only occurs naturally in very few foods, it is nearly impossible to obtain enough outside of the summer months without additional supplementation.You would have to drink 40 cups of vitamin D enriched milk to obtain a sufficient daily amount, so please don't think you can rely on enriched foods either! Vitamin D is more than just a vitamin, it's actually a hormone and research has shown that it increases the production of antimicrobial peptides (our body's natural broad spectrum antibiotics) while it simultaneously prevents the immune system from releasing too many inflammatory cells. So we see that this is a crucial nutrient in proper immune system function!

Furthermore, the RDA for vitamin D has been set ridiculously low, and wide-spread skin cancer paranoia is causing people to cover up instead of soaking up those beneficial rays. Doctor Robert Heaney, a prominent vitamin D researcher, helped to establish the RDA for vitamin D. According to Heaney, the RDA was based on how much of it is required to prevent rickets. This is problematic because vitamin D deficiency can still cause significant problems at levels that aren’t extreme enough to cause rickets. To this day, the RDA for vitamin D is still 200 IU for all people 50 years old or younger. It then increases to 400 IU for people over 50 and to 600 IU for the elderly (people over 70). Research indicates that the average adult should be receiving closer to 5000 units per day for the maintenance of good health.

There is a common misconception that vitamin D is toxic or dangerous. It is, in fact, considered by the Vitamin D Council to be twice as safe as water in terms of "overdosing". It is, in fact, quite safe when taken in high doses although it is important to have blood serum levels checked from time to time so your dose can be adjusted accordingly. Just think, the skin produces approximately 10,000 IU vitamin D from just 20–30 minutes of summer sun exposure.....that's a lot of vitamin D!

Here are a couple of great links to check out for more information on vitamin D:
www.vitamindcouncil.org
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/51913.php