Are You Getting Enough Vitamin D?

Simple Ways to Increase Your Vitamin D Levels

      Vitamin D is necessary for bone, muscle and overall health. Vitamin D is made in the human body through a series of methods, which begin when the skin is exposed to the sun's ultraviolet radiation.

Some people are at risk for vitamin D deficiency, especially those who have naturally very dark skin, and those who have little exposure to the sun.

There is a need for a balanced strategy to ensure sun exposure for vitamin D while minimizing the risk of skin cancer.

Vitamin D is an important nutrient that the human body needs for many important processes, including building and maintaining strong bones.

Low vitamin D consumption is considered to be a major health problem worldwide. In fact, deficiency of D is estimated to affect 13% of the world's population.

Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium and phosphate from the diet. This mineral is very important for healthy bones, teeth and muscles.

What is Vitamins D?

Vitamin D was discovered in 1920, which was the culmination of a long search for ways to treat rickets, a painful childhood bone disease. Within a decade, fortification of ingredients with diet D became lower, and rickets became uncommon in the United States. What makes vitamin D special is, that it is a nutrient as well as a hormone that your body can manufacture from the sun. Despite the potential for obtaining vitamin D from food and the sun, an estimated 40%-75% of humans are vitamin D deficient.

How Do You Get Vitamin D?

Your body creates vitamin D from sunlight, directly on your skin when you're outside. From about late March/early April to late September, you can mostly get all the vitamin D you want from the sun.
You also get vitamin D from a variety of foods, including oily fish like salmon, mackerel, herring and sardines, and red meat and eggs.
Vitamin D is also found in all infant formulas, as well as some breakfast cereals, and greased spreads.

Your Gut Health

Vitamin D added in the diet is absorbed in the small intestine directly downstream from the stomach. Gastric juices, pancreatic secretions, bile from the liver, the integrity of the intestinal wall, all have an impact on how much nutrients are absorbed.

Therefore, conditions that affect the gut and digestion, such as celiac disease, persistent pancreatitis, Crohn's disease, and cystic fibrosis, may limit absorption of D from food.

Hints to Assist You Get Ample Vitamin D

Consume Sufficient Calcium Vitamin D and calcium work together making your bones strong. Make sure that you are getting enough calcium by including dairy products, leafy vegetables, fish, tofu, Brazil nuts and almonds in your diet. Work out every day. Regular exercise helps make vitamin D. Eat ingredients that are rich in vitamin D Good sources include eggs, liver, and fatty fish like mackerel, herring, and salmon. Some low-fat margarines and milk provide vitamin D.

Canned tuna fish. Fresh fish is not the only way to increase vitamin D intake; You can get these nutrients from canned foods as well. Canned tuna and sardines each contain vitamin D, and are much cheaper than fresh fish.

Canned tuna has the most vitamin D—about 150 IU per 4 ounces—while canned albacore tuna has about 50 IU per 4 ounces, and canned sardines have slightly greater than 40 IU per 2 sardines.

Food Supplement Talk to your doctor before taking any supplements. Dietary supplements of vitamin D may also be beneficial for some people, but you need to talk to your healthcare practitioner first and take them strictly as directed.

Why is Vitamin D so Important?

Calcium keeps bones strong and healthy, and vitamin D plays an important role in bone health. You can have all the calcium in the world, but it doesn't get absorbed into your bones, except for vitamin D. That's the job of vitamin D, without it, the calcium you get from yogurt, cheese, and even vegetables like broccoli won't be absorbed, and won't do much for maintaining your bone health. Vitamin D can also help prevent osteoporosis, which makes your bones brittle, a vitamin D deficiency can contribute to a gradual “bone energy loss” over time.

Summary

Vitamin D is an important nutrient that some humans don't get enough of. You can increase your vitamin D by getting extra sun exposure, ingesting ingredients that are rich in D nutrition, and/or taking supplements.

If you suspect you are deficient in this essential nutrient, seek advice from a healthcare professional to have you examined.