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D-lightful Vitamin D
The Good and Not-So-Good Aspects of Vitamin D
You may be surprised to learn that one of the most common nutritional deficiencies these days is vitamin D. Most people are surprised to hear this. We don't normally think about having vitamin deficiencies in modern Western culture with our abundance of food.
As it turns out, the problem may not be lack of foods, but lack of sunshine. One of the benefits of getting enough sun is that it triggers your body to make abundant vitamin D.
Here are some of the lesser-known consequences associated with low vitamin D levels:
- Poor memory related to aging
- Blood sugar problems, including type II diabetes and Syndrome X
- Breast, prostate and several other types of cancer
- Chronic pain
- Depression, especially in the winter (Seasonal Affective Disorder)
- Osteoporosis, osteomalacia, osteopenia
How Did We Get To This State Of Affairs?
Between spending lots of time indoors and following the well-intended advice to avoid sunshine by always using sun blockers, many people never get enough sunlight on their skin to generate sufficient vitamin D. The truth is that you only need to avoid excessive sunshine, in other words, the amount that would cause a sunburn.
Research suggests that your skin tone determines how much sunlight is optimal for creating adequate vitamin D. If your ancestors are from very northern climates, you are likely fair skinned and 15-30 minutes of daily sunshine might be sufficient. If your ancestors are from more equatorial areas, you likely have darker skin and may require up to several hours of sun a day. In any case, avoiding sunburn is crucial.
What Is The Best Way Course Of Action To
Get The Right Amounts of Vitamin D?
Obviously, it's much harder to get adequate sunshine in the winter than in the summer. To complicate matters more, too much vitamin D can also lead to problems, including some of the very same ones associated with too little vitamin D. This makes supplementing in the winter a bit tricky.
That's why the most knowledgeable researchers and clinicians say to monitor your levels of vitamin D if you are going to take a supplement. In particular, they recommend testing levels of 25(OH)D in your blood. Depending on who you believe, the ideal levels for this will fall between 30 and 50 ng/ml.
Another confusing part of this issue is that different sources recommend different levels of vitamin D supplementation. While researching this topic, the best source I found says:
"Don't take vitamin D in amounts beyond the 400-800 IU range (daily) without testing and when you begin to take D test every three or four months the first year and every six months the second and third year to make sure you have the right dose." (source: Krispin Sullivan, Certified Nutritionist)
The best advice also indicates that if your levels are low, you can take higher doses of vitamin D as a supplement. But if you do, please test every 3 to 4 months to make sure you're not overdoing it.
If you want to learn more, the above link to Krispin Sullivan's site will give you lots. Also see the Sunarc site. One more great source for this information is Dr. Mercola's site. Once there, type "vitamin D" in the search box at the top of his home page.
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