Benefits of Vitamin D

This is a fat-soluble vitamin that is essential for calcium absorption and is required to help maintain normal calcium and phosphorus levels in our bodies. It helps promote bone growth and helps with neuromuscular function and immunity. It requires good liver and kidney function in order to convert it to active forms that our bodies can use.

Sources of Vitamin D

Naturally occurs in only a few foods, but is added to many of the foods we buy and can be taken as a s upplement.

Food sources include...

1) Certain seafoods like salmon, mackerel, tuna fish, cod liver oil and sardines.

2) Breakfast foods like milk, margarine, cereal and eggs

3) Other foods such as liver, beef and cheese (Swiss)

Sun exposure (UV radiation) provides most of the Vitamin D that people need since it stimulates our skin to synthesize it. But that doesn't mean we should all go out and get as much sun exposure as possible. That would actually be dangerous and increase risk of skin cancer. The amount of sunlight required to make an adequate amount of Vitamin D is not that much and has been estimated to be around 5-30 minutes between 10AM to 3PM twice a week. Excessive cloud cover and dark skin are factors that reduce UV light absorption and can affect Vitamin D synthesis.

Vitamin D Deficiency is actually very common in people over 50. If you're a woman of short stature and post-menopausal you should be at least cognizant of the potential risk of developing osteoporosis and you should probably be taking Calcium and Vitamin D supplements, or at least discuss it with your doctor. He or she may wish to do a 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D blood level and a bone density test (DEXA scan) to evaluate their risk. If you are deficient in Vitamin D, you will not be able to absorb calcium well from your gastrointestinal tract and your bones will eventually become weak and brittle. You may also develop symptoms of fatigue and muscle weakness. Thus the benefits of Vitamin D in this situation are obvious.

Men are not immune from this problem either. Older men frequently have low Vitamin D levels and if their testosterone levels are also low, the risk of osteoporosis goes up significantly.

If you are deficient in Vitamin D, It is important that you take the right amount of supplemental Vitamin D. It is possible to overdose on it, leading to dangerously high levels of Calcium and Phosphorus, though this is rare. You should be under the care of a physician if you have to take more than the standard over the counter Calcium plus D preparations twice a day.

In children, Vitamin D deficiency causes Ricketts and osteomalacia, which are severe abnormalities of bone growth resulting in deformities. The addition of Vitamin D in milk in the U.S. has largely eliminated this problem here, but it is still seen intermittently, especially in infants who are breastfed for long periods without any Vitamin D supplementation.

Certain intestinal diseases, such as Crohn's disease and Celiac disease, which cause malabsorption problems, can cause Vitamin D deficiencies as well and may need supplementation.

Vitamin D toxicity, as mentioned above, can occur if you take excessive amounts of Vitamin D supplementation over long periods of time without monitoring levels. It is not possible to get an overdose of Vitamin D by excessive exposure to sunlight. Your body won't make more than you need naturally.

The benefits of Vitamin D are obvious when taken in the right amounts, but as with all supplements, more than you need is never better.

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