Vitamin D Fraud
Vitamin D is essential for our bodies to maintain our health, with lots of amazing benefits, but there are two forms of Vitamin D. Many manufacturers use the second cheap, ineffective variety. Don’t waste your money.
What does Vitamin D do for us? It helps our body get calcium from our food so that our bones remain strong. Vitamin D deficiency was first associated with rickets, and soft bones, but now we know that Vitamin d does a great deal more. It helps maintain our cardiovascular health and deficiencies in vitamin D are associated with more cardiac deaths. It helps to prevent cognitive impairment as we age, in kids it helps to prevent severe asthma. It is being studied for its role in preventing and treating many forms of cancer. It is also known to help prevent Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, glucose intolerance and Multiple Sclerosis. It is extremely helpful for those who suffered SAD which is a depression caused by lack of sun and it is being studied in many other forms of depression.
Vitamin D is commonly known as the sunshine vitamin, because the sun’s UVB rays allow our body to produce Vitamin D. Without the sun your body can’t produce it and there are few foods that give you Vitamin D particularly if you are vegetarian and even fewer if you are vegan. The foods that have the most Vitamin D are fortified dairy products, like cheese, some fortified grain products, egg yolks, fish and fish liver oils. But the truth is for many people the only way they get enough Vitamin D is through supplementation.
You may have seen the orange juice and other products fortified with vitamin D but, not only is there very little, it is the cheap ineffective variety. You see you can ingest lots of things that sound like they could be good for you but if they are not bio-available than it is your excrement that gets them. Vitamin D comes in 2 forms; D2 which is not very bio-available and is quite weak, but it is cheap to produce. So guess which kind gets put in all these designer drinks and foods? The powerful kind is Vitamin D3 and it is much more expensive. Nonetheless find a good D3 supplement. You need at least 2000 IU daily and tests are showing that in fact we may need a lot more than that. Europe is already recommending up to 5000 IU a day.
As more is learned about vitamin D the more we realize its importance and for a large part of the world, everyone north of about 40 degrees North latitude, they cannot get enough Vitamin D from the sun for about 8 months of the year. So when you can get out in the sun unprotected, sunscreen blocks the UVB rays, for 15 -20 minutes a day. Do so when the sun is low in the sky so you do not get too much direct sun. If your skin color is dark you can take more sun, but still be careful. You need some UVB but you don’t need a burn. Eat as many of the foods as you can that do contain Vitamin D and last but certainly not least, supplement with a good Vitamin D3 supplement.
See your doctor and have an investigation for Vitamin D deficiency particularly if you have muscle or bone aches or pains, if you feel like you are experiencing memory impairment, if you are fatigued or have low energy constantly, if you have symptoms of depression, sudden and frequent mood swings and/or sleep irregularities. Those who suffer from any of the renal or intestinal problem disorders such as Crohns disease should certainly get yourself checked for Vitamin D deficiency as you may be having trouble absorbing or converting the nutrient. Also as we age our body becomes less and less able to mobilize Vitamin D so our calcium absorption could decline dangerously.
The medical profession is beginning to realize just how important Vitamin D is, but the studies are just beginning. What is known for sure is that you must have lots of Vitamin d and most people must supplement. When you look for D Vitamin supplements don’t let them defraud you, get Vitamin D3. Your long term health depends on it.