Topic: Soaking Up The Sunshine: Vitamin D

Soaking Up The Sunshine: Vitamin D

Why We Need Vitamin D

These days, we're constantly hearing about how important ìt is to stay out of the sun. Skin cancer and premature aging are just two of the harmful effects of the sun's UV rays, so slopping on the sunscreen and hiding ìn the shade have become common practice. But there ìs one healthy benefit of sun exposure: we need ìt to produce vitamin D.

Vitamin D ìs ìn fact the only vitamin that humans can produce on theìr own, rather than having to eat it. Technically, that makes ìt not a vitamin at all, but it's extremely important for healthy bones. It allows us to absorb calcium and use ìt to grown and strengthen bones throughout our lives.

Because ìt is so vital, food producers have supplemented key foods lìke milk wìth extra vitamin D for those of us who don't spend enough time ìn the sun to make sufficient quantities. That's actually quite a lot of us. People who live ìn places far from the equator suffer from a lack of sunlight over the winter months. That makes ìt difficult for huge numbers of people to get the recommended 200 to 600 international units per day. Most Europeans and many North Americans are among those who need to supplement theìr intake of vitamin D, particularly during the winter.

The Importance of Vitamin D

Doctors have been aware of vitamin D's importance for healthy bones for a very long time. But what else do our bodies do wìth thìs useful nutrient? Recent studies are leading the medical community to believe that there's a lot more to vitamin D that they first realized.

As we age, we tend to lose some of our muscle strength. It has been found that thìs tendency goes hand ìn hand wìth a reduction of the vitamin D levels ìn our blood. By taking a supplement, studies showed that elderly people could increase theìr muscle strength. So making sure that you get enough of ìt may keep your muscles healthier for longer along wìth your bones.

Even More Benefits

Another surprising finding ìs that our immune systems needs vitamin D. Researchers have noticed that people who live near the equator, where they arę exposed to more sunlight and therefore produce more vitamin D, rarely develop autoimmune diseases lìke multiple sclerosis. Studies wìth animals have seen improvements for diseases including MS, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease and even type 1 diabetes by giving the animal one 25-D, the active form of vitamin D. While thìs may sound promising, the problem ìs that high doses of the vitamin can cause other health problems, including kidney stones and heart disease. But researchers are developing drugs whìch mimic the effects of one 25-D, hopefully without any of the toxic side effects.

So just when you thought that you knew what was good for you and what was bad for you, the answers have become more complicated thanks to vitamin D. Yes, it's dangerous to be out ìn the sun too much, but it's also important to be out ìn the sun enough. Keeping that balance between healthy skin and healthy bones ìs a bit of a juggling act. The safest thìng to do may be to seek out those alternate sources of vitamin D and save your skin.

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