Vitamin D Deficiency
Thursday, September 17th, 2009Vitamin D promotes healthy bones and teeth. Everyone knows that, but deeper insight into Vitamin D’s wider role in our health is relatively new. Researchers are discovering that Vitamin D also promotes normal cell growth and helps maintain hormonal balance and a healthy immune system. Moreover, definite links have emerged between Vitamin D deficiency and obesity, insulin resistance, heart disease, certain cancers and depression. And experts now agree that the DRI’s for Vitamin D are far too low, particularly for people who don’t spend much time in the sun.
Children with rickets
Awareness of Vitamin D first took center stage in the early part of the 20th century. Children with Vitamin D deficiency developed rickets, a condition where the body fails to mineralize bone. This led to the daily dosing of children with cod liver oil, and manufacturers began to fortify milk and cereal with Vitamin D as well. By the 1960’s, rickets had become a relatively rare disease.
Today, most commercial milk producers fortify their products with Vitamin D, and many orange juice makers are doing the same. But the catch is, you’d have to drink gallons a day to reach optimal levels. That’s just too much milk or juice for most adults.
The Sunshine Vitamin
Your body can’t create Vitamin D on its own. Instead, it’s designed to make this important vitamin through sun exposure. Until modern times, human beings spent a great deal of time outdoors. But today many of us work inside sealed buildings with glazed windows, and we wear sunblock when we go outside. Unfortunately, any glass windows or sunblock with an SPF above 15 will block the UVB rays essential for Vitamin D conversion.
Mood swings
An interesting area of Vitamin D research is its relationship to depression. Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is a situational mood disorder brought on by decreasing daylight in the winter months. High doses of Vitamin D during these months have proven to be a very effective natural remedy for SAD. Vitamin D levels are inversely related to those of melatonin. Melatonin helps modulate your circadian rhythms. Insomnia, mood swings and food cravings are all influenced by melatonin. Sunlight shuts melatonin production off, while triggering release of Vitamin D, which is why doctors recommend getting outdoors as a remedy for jet lag.
What you can do to prevent Vitamin D deficiency
Get out in the sun. Is healthy sunbathing possible? Of course it is. During the summer months, even as little as 15 minutes in the sun (without sunblock!) in the early morning and late afternoon is enough for most light-skinned individuals to manufacture an ample supply of Vitamin D. Darker skin may require up to 40 minutes.
Eat a diet rich in whole foods. Nutrient-dense, fatty fish like salmon, mackerel and sardines are good sources of Vitamin D. Egg yolks, fortified organic milk and other dairy products, and some organ meats (like liver) are also reasonably good natural sources of Vitamin D. Take a top-quality multivitamin every day.
Take a Vitamin D supplement.
Understanding your own individual needs and levels of tolerance for Vitamin D are important parts of healthy self-care. Remember—your health is a work in progress that needs your consistent attention and support.
References
1.Cranney A, Horsley T, O’Donnell S, et al. (Scientific American, August 2007). “Effectiveness and safety of vitamin D in relation to bone health”.
2.Tavera-Mendoza LE, White JH (Scientific American, November 2007). “Cell defenses and the sunshine vitamin”.
3.Spence, Jean, T. and Janet R. Serwint. “Secondary Prevention of Vitamin D-Deficiency Rickets” (Pediatrics 113 January 2004).
4.Endocr Pract. 2009 Jun 2:1–16. “Is Vitamin D the Fountain of Youth?”