Vitamin D, is completely different from most vitamins.
In fact, its actually a steroid hormone produced from cholesterol when your body is exposed
to the sun.
Its a fat soluble vitamin, meaning that it dissolves in fats and oils and usually stored
in your body for long amounts of time.
There are mainly 2 types of Vitamin D. You got D3: cholecalciferol(Which is found in
fatty fish and egg yolks and You got D2: ergocalciferol (found in some plants and mushrooms).
D3 is more effective in raising your levels of vitamin D altogether, so it will be the
one ill focus on.
The big question everyone likes to ask me in the pharmacy about this vitamin is: Can
I get it from the sun?
Well it depends.
If you live in an area with lots of sunshine, like in LA, where I am currently, you can
probably get all the vitamin D you need by being outside a few times per week.
Keep in mind this depends though.
For most days of the week: 15 minutes of sun will suffice for a person with lighter skin
(due to less melanin getting more sun exposure) to a couple of hours for a person with dark
skin (who lets say has more melanin and gets less sun exposure).
Keep in mind though if your only exposing your face and hands, you may not be getting
enough but also dont forget: Your exposure time should depend on how sensitive your skin
is already to sunlight.
This is because sunburns can cause premature aging and raise your skin cancer risk.
So carry sunscreen with you when you go out to absorb some D’s if you plan to stay outside
longer than 15 to 20 minutes.
While your at it, Dont forget to Check out my video on sunscreen, to learn how to stay
protected from sunburns and also, smash that like button below.
Because Vitamin D gets stored in your body for weeks or months at a time, you only need
so much sunshine to keep your blood levels of vitamin d in check, so its not necessary
to obsess about getting in front of the sun everyday, especially if you are supplementing.
That being said, many people also dont have access to sunshine for most the year and vitamin
d deficiency becomes a real thing especially among older adults because their skin already
has a harder time making vitamin d when exposed to the sun and their kidneys are less able
to convert vitamin d to its active form which can lead to osteoporosis and risk of falls.
In fact: People who work indoors, wear extensive clothing, regularly use sunblock, are dark
skinned, obese, or consicously avoid the sun, are at risk of vitamin D deficiency.
In fact: Vitamin D deficiency is so common that an estimated 1 billion people worldwide
have low levels of the vitamin in their blood.
Other people who may be vitamin d deficient are people who spend all days indoors, people
who live in areas with high pollution, people with chrons disease and celiac disease..
Check in with your doctor to have your vitamin D levels measured if you are worried you may
not be getting enough.
The cut off for vitamin d deficiency is less than ≤20 ng/mL and you’d ideally want
your levels to be above 30.
Supplementation may be necessary for some people, and it may be given with calcium for
bone health, as Calcium is whats used to build bones and Vitamin D is whats used to effectively
absorb the calcium.
So The recommended dietary intake for Vitamin D maintenance therapy is 600 IU or 15 mcg
for adults and the upper level intake is maxed out at 4000 IU/day, and again thats for adults.
4000 IU is the safe upper limit according to the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
So Make sure not to take more than that without consulting your doctor first.
Keep in mind your dose may be different, if your doctor recommends using it for osteoporosis,
or for other health reasons.
Overall, Vitamin D is essential to our health as it helps strengthen our bones, helps us
absorb calcium better, which allows us to keep our muscles healthy and moving the way
it should.
It also helps our nerves to carry messages between the brain and the rest of the body.
The fascinating part is the investigation of the role of vitamin D in certain viral
infections affecting the lungs which you may all have heard by now.
Id love to discuss it below in the comments.
I hope this video helped clarify some questions surrounding vitamin D and was useful to you.
Let me know what your experiences are with vitamin D, if you feel like you arent getting
enough, or if you have any further questions, please leave them below, and Ill get to answering
all of them for you, also It means a lot that you made it this far, if you liked the video,
give it a like and subscribe, and as always, see you on the next one.