Vitamin D

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Why We Need Vitamin D

You may not hear a lot about vitamin D on the news. It's not as exciting as skin cancer and other harmful effects of exposing your skin to the sun's UV rays. But in this age of fear, it's nice to know that there is something positive that comes from sun exposure. It is the secret ingredient that helps our bodies to produce vitamin D.

Vitamin D is in fact the only vitamin that humans can produce on their own, rather than having to eat it. Technically, that makes it not a vitamin at all, but it's extremely important for healthy bones. It allows us to absorb calcium and use it to grown and strengthen bones throughout our lives.

Because it is so vital, food producers have supplemented key foods like milk with extra vitamin D for those of us who don't spend enough time in the sun to make sufficient quantities. That's actually quite a lot of us. People who live in places far from the equator suffer from a lack of sunlight over the winter months. That makes it difficult for huge numbers of people to get the recommended 200 to 600 international units per day. Most Europeans and many North Americans are among those who need to supplement their intake of vitamin D, particularly during the winter.

The Importance of Vitamin D

The importance of vitamin D to bone health has been widely known for a long time, but more recent studies have brought new findings to the attention of the medical community. It seems that this mysterious nutrient can also help keep us healthy in other ways.

As we age, we tend to lose some of our muscle strength. It has been found that this tendency goes hand in hand with a reduction of the vitamin D levels in our blood. By taking a supplement, studies showed that elderly people could increase their muscle strength. So making sure that you get enough of it may keep your muscles healthier for longer along with your bones.

Even More Benefits

Another surprising finding is that our immune systems needs vitamin D. Researchers have noticed that people who live near the equator, where they are exposed to more sunlight and therefore produce more vitamin D, rarely develop autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis. Studies with animals have seen improvements for diseases including MS, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease and even type 1 diabetes by giving the animal one 25-D, the active form of vitamin D. While this may sound promising, the problem is that high doses of the vitamin can cause other health problems, including kidney stones and heart disease. But researchers are developing drugs which mimic the effects of one 25-D, hopefully without any of the toxic side effects.

So just when you thought that you knew what was good for you and what was bad for you, the answers have become more complicated thanks to vitamin D. Yes, it's dangerous to be out in the sun too much, but it's also important to be out in the sun enough. Keeping that balance between healthy skin and healthy bones is a bit of a juggling act. The safest thing to do may be to seek out those alternate sources of vitamin D and save your skin.

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