You may have heard me rant about how important vitamin D is for many years now.
After thirty years of being vilified by the medical establishment and the press, vitamin D is gaining new popularity — and even becoming a hero — as a nutrient that supports your overall health.
Recent discoveries suggest it has significantly more far-reaching effects than just your bone health, contrary to popular belief.
In fact, vitamin D is known to support your body’s health systems in a variety of ways. So much so that it’s not a stretch to suggest your body literally cries out for vitamin D in many ways.
And now, with winter bearing down on the Northern Hemisphere with sleet, biting rain, and snow, you may not enjoy even the remote hope of getting vitamin D from natural sunlight… unless you live on the southern tip of Florida, in Hawaii, in Mexico, or the southern hemisphere.
So it’s critical to your well-being to consider your other options. More on that in a moment…
But first, allow me to explain just what an astounding impact vitamin D has on your entire health…
Research suggests that up to 85% of people could be deficient in vitamin D without knowing it… leaving them with less-than-optimal health. In fact, some scientists call for urgent action.
Why?
Because current scientific research suggests that all cells and tissues in your body have vitamin D receptors — and further concludes that every cell and tissue needs vitamin D for its well-being.
Not only that, but vitamin D is responsible for the regulation of over 2,000 genes in your body!
Vitamin D engages in very complex metabolic processes within your body. Scientists believe that vitamin D serves a wide range of fundamental biological functions relating to many aspects of your health.
Your skin naturally produces your body’s supply of vitamin D from direct exposure to bright midday sun with a mere ten or fifteen minutes’ exposure per day.
But for decades, you’ve been the target of a misinformation campaign from the media and conventional medicine that created a fear of sunshine. Therefore, most people either intentionally or unintentionally avoid the sun — or smear on sunscreen that blocks the beneficial wavelengths that produce vitamin D in your skin.
Having too little vitamin D may not have any outwardly obvious signs. Yet vitamin D (specifically the vitamin D3 form) impacts an incredible array of support for systems and functions in your body…
• Heart health
• Cell formation and cell longevity
• Skin health
• Pancreatic health
• Aging process
• Sleep patterns
• Hearing
• Reproductive health
• Athletic performance
• Eye health
• Vascular system health
• Respiratory health
• Immune health…
Most people feel in better health during the summer sunshine months — ever wonder why?
• Healthy mood and feelings of well-being
• Weight management, including carbohydrate and fat metabolism
• Hair and hair follicles
• Strong and healthy bones, because vitamin D encourages calcium uptake
• Muscles
• Proper digestion and food absorption
Since healthy levels of vitamin D protect and promote so many of your body’s functions, a deficiency may mean your body lacks the tools it needs to keep you in optimal health…
Making sufficient vitamin D a very important issue for you to address!
Because naturally, you want to be at your peak so you feel great, and accomplish so much each and every day.
Realistically, you have just three ways to obtain the vitamin D your body needs.
I’ve long been an advocate that the absolute best way to get vitamin D is through direct sunlight on your skin. It’s the most natural way to acquire your D, and your body self-regulates the amount you receive.
But what if you live in northerly climates where direct sunlight is unavailable for months at a time, as it is in most of the continental U.S.? Short of moving to Hawaii, you still have two alternatives. One alternative is to regularly use a tanning bed that utilizes UV-B rays such as the revolutionary tanning beds sold elsewhere on this website. Whatever tanning bed you use, please be very sure it includes UV-B rays, so you get the exact rays that provide you optimal health benefits.
Your third alternative is internal supplementation with vitamin D3 — with a caveat.
Please — if you supplement with vitamin D3, have your vitamin D levels tested routinely to ensure you do not overdose with it. You and your physician need to be aware of your vitamin D levels so you can adjust your supplementation accordingly. This is a customized approach – - not a one-size-fits-all.
Having said that, studies suggest that most people are deficient in vitamin D — not overdosing with it.
Just who is likely to most need vitamin D supplementation? I include some general guidelines here — though as just stated, I strongly believe you should be testing your levels to know for sure whether you personally need to supplement.
Some population groups are more likely to have lower-than-optimal vitamin D levels than others. But remember that 85% are estimated to be deficient. Are you one of the 85% — or in one of these groups that may suggest deficiencies?
People with limited sunlight exposure. During the long grey winter months in northern latitudes, you may need to supplement your vitamin D3 unless you have access to a safe tanning bed.
However, even during summer many of us are modern day ‘cavemen’. Most people get very little sun exposure during the summer. Your reasons might include working an indoor job during all the peak sunlight hours, avoiding the heat of the day, or cultural dress codes.
Even on the weekend, if it’s rainy, you may miss sun exposure. If that’s your situation, you probably don’t receive the vitamin D you need.
And did you know that your car, home, and office windows block most of the sun’s wavelengths that your skin needs to produce vitamin D? So don’t count on getting it indoors — or in your car.
Further, if you live in an industrial area with high-sulfur content air pollution (acid haze) blocking the sun’s rays, your levels are likely low.
Your bare skin needs at least 10-15 minutes of exposure to direct sunlight every day to produce the vitamin D you need. Just as with windows, jackets and long pants also block the sun’s valuable wavelengths.
Overweight people. Individuals who are overweight often have considerably higher needs for vitamin D because vitamin D is oil soluble and hidden in their fat.
Pregnant women. New evidence suggests that vitamin D levels during pregnancy may be critically important for you and your baby.
The elderly. As you age, your skin loses the ability to generate vitamin D. Plus, the elderly tend to spend more time indoors.
Dark-skinned people. Darker-skinned people have higher melanin levels, which blocks UVB radiation and limits the body’s ability to produce vitamin D3.
What’s more, vitamin D is very rare in foods, and is only available in very limited quantities in eggs, liver and fatty fish.
So if you’re in one of these groups above, or you spend your winters above 30 degrees latitude, or otherwise determine that you need vitamin D3 supplementation.
