BetterHealthBytes.com - Volume 1-Issue 12

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VITAMIN D - What You Need to Know

LEARN THESE IMPORTANT FACTS SO YOU CAN MAKE THE BEST CHOICES ABOUT WHETHER AND WHEN TO SUPPLEMENT

What is vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin that's present in some foods and created in our own bodies when the ultraviolet rays from the sun stimulate its production. Then two metabolic processes - one in the liver, the other in the kidney convert it to its active form - Calcitriol (1,25-Dihydroxycholecalciferol). This form is a prohormone, meaning it boosts the strength of other bodily hormones.

What does vitamin D do - why do we need it?

Vitamin D picks up calcium from your stomach and puts it into your blood, which makes that essential nutrient available for wherever it needs to go. With calcium circulating in the blood, the body can send it to muscles - like to keep your heart beating, for example, or your bones and keep them strong. Without vitamin D we would not have enough circulating calcium. Vitamin D is one of the most important vitamins the body needs to make mineral deposits in your bone bank.

Vitamin D also plays a role in regulating cells growth, immunity, reducing inflammation and the function of nerves and muscles.

What are low vitamin D symptoms?

Lack of vitamin D causes a number of serious bone health risks. The earliest sign is abnormal softening or thinning of cranial bones. The next most common sign in adults is osteomalacia, with its muscle weakness and fragile bones. In children, low vitamin D can produce rickets, in which the lack of vitamin D inhibits their long bones from developing properly. Vitamin D provides the first phase of the courier service for minerals, carrying both calcium and phosphorus from the gut or reabsorbing phosphorus in the kidney.

What are symptoms of high vitamin D?

Vitamin D toxicity, or hypervitaminosis D symptoms can include: being dehydrated, irritability, constipation, anorexia (diminished appetite), fatigue and muscle weakness. It can also cause hypercalcemia, (abnormally elevated blood concentrations of calcium). During the body's attempts to eliminate it, the excess calcium may be deposited in soft tissues such as the heart, the inside of arteries, generating hypertension, and producing gall or kidney stones.

Excess D from the sun can also cause skin cancer. Additionally, it can also cause bone loss by leaching calcium from bones back into tissues, taking bone bank deposits out of bones and returning it to blood, thus actually contributing to the development of osteoporosis. This is a danger encountered by those taking a number of over-the-counter supplements, as many are fortified with vitamin D but not reported on the label.

Because vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, it builds up in the fatty tissues of the body, allowing the appearance of toxicity symptoms to be delayed as long as a few months after overdose. That said, the good news is that storing vitamin D means that lots of skin exposure during the summer allows storage for winter.
High vitamin D levels can be addressed with massive doses of vitamin D's natural antagonist, essential fatty acids, also known as vitamin F.

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Natural vitamin D is

about 100 times more potent

than any synthetic version.

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WHICH

FOODS

ARE

GOOD SOURCES

VITAMIN D?

First of all, vitamin D is made naturally by your skin. When you're exposed to the ultraviolet rays of the sun, cholesterol within your skin is converted into vitamin D.

So if you get enough sunlight, you don't need to supplement with vitamin D, whether from your diet or anywhere else.

That said, dietary sources of vitamin D include:

egg yolks,
cod liver oil,
salmon and
cod livers and
butter fat.

Raw butter is an especially good source of D for people prone to:

osteoporosis,
skin problems,
keratotic lesions or
skin cancer.

Dr. Bruce West reports that the form of vitamin D in raw butter is a hundred times more effective than commercial vitamin D.

Other sources are fortified foods such as:

fortified milk,
yoghurt,
cheeses,
orange juice,and
cereals.

Can You Prevent the Winter Blues and Seasonal Depression (SAD)

with vitamin D?

When daylight hours diminish, many people find their mood diminished right along with the light. For some this means only a darkening disposition - for others it means a full blown depression.

When depression is seasonal, it's labeled 'seasonal affective disorder', and it may be helped considerably by supplementing with vitamin D.

Recent research has been demonstrating that bringing up vitamin D levels also brings up mood.

The best results seem to come from using a combination of:

vitamin D supplements,

full spectrum light bulbs,

getting outdoors as often as possible, and

occasional tanning bed visits.

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