Vitamin D : Source and Health Benefits - Top Natural Healthcare

Vitamin D : Source and Health Benefits

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in very few foods available as a dietary supplement. .Vitamin D obtained from sun exposure ( 90 % of recommending quantity ), food, and supplements.
Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. Calcium and phosphate are two minerals that are essential for normal bone formation.
Throughout childhood, your body uses these minerals to produce bones. If you do not get enough calcium and vitamin D, or if your body does not absorb enough calcium from your diet, bone production and bone tissues may suffer.Vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis in adults or rickets in children.
Vitamin D has other roles in the body, including modulation of cell growth, neuromuscular and immune function, and reduction of inflammation  Many genes encoding proteins that regulate cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis are modulated in part by vitamin D.

Food Sources of Vitamin D


Vitamin D : Source and Health Benefits

The body makes vitamin D when the skin is directly exposed to the sun. That is why it is often called the "sunshine" vitamin. Most people meet at least some of their vitamin D needs this way.
Very few foods naturally contain vitamin D. As a result, many foods are fortified with vitamin D. Fortified means that vitamins have been added to the food.
Fatty fish (such as tuna, salmon, and mackerel) are among the best sources of vitamin D.
Beef liver, cheese, and egg yolks provide small amounts.
Mushrooms provide some vitamin D.The vitamin D content is also being boosted by exposure to some commercially available mushrooms to ultraviolet light. Most milk in the United States is fortified with 400 IU vitamin D per quart. It should be noted that foods made from milk, such as cheese and ice cream, are usually not fortified. Vitamin D is added to many breakfast kinds of cereal and to some brands of soy beverages, orange juice,  yogurt, and margarine. Check the nutrition fact panel on the food label. Supplements
It can be very hard to get enough vitamin D from food sources alone. As a result, some people may need to take a vitamin D supplement.

Vitamin D recommended Dosed
Recommended Doses of Vitamin 

Role in Health Benefit

Vitamin D makes Bone strong and healthy

Vitamin D deficiency can lead to softening or malformation of bone. In children, this condition is called rickets. In adults, it is called osteomalacia.
The relationship between vitamin D and bone metabolism is more complicated than you might guess. As a hormone, vitamin D acts to increase calcium in the bloodstream. The first two ways it accomplishes this are by increasing your ability to absorb calcium from foods and by reducing the amount of calcium you lose in the urine. The last way, however, is by pulling calcium from the bone to support your blood levels.

Obviously, if our goal is to promote strong bones, we don't want to be pulling calcium from them into the bloodstream. For this reason, we only consider vitamin D to be a helpful bone builder when there is sufficient dietary calcium. Any bony fish, including sardines or canned salmon, would potentially be a rich source of both vitamin D and calcium. Check our calcium profile to learn more about dietary calcium.

Vitamin D control Blood Sugar

Researchers have known for some time that the risk of high blood sugar and diabetes are higher in people with low vitamin D levels. More recent research has demonstrated that bringing these levels back up to normal can help reverse some of the risks. Although research has not been entirely consistent, it is becoming more accepted that vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for developing diabetes.

Vitamin D improves Immunity

Vitamin D is one of many hormones involved in the maturation of white blood cells, our first line against most types of infection. In particular, researchers have uncovered a relatively consistent link between low vitamin D level and increased risk of respiratory infection. This research is still relatively new, and we do not know at this point whether increasing dietary intake will reverse this correlation.

Vitamin D reduces chances of Cancer

Strong biological and mechanistic bases indicate that vitamin D plays a role in the prevention of colon, prostate, and breast cancers. Emerging epidemiologic data suggest that vitamin D may have a protective effect against colon cancer, but the data are not as strong for a protective effect against prostate and breast cancer and are variable for cancers at other sites.
Vitamin D emerged as a protective factor in a prospective, cross-sectional study of 3,121 adults aged ≥50 years (96% men) who underwent a colonoscopy. The study found that 10% had at least one advanced cancerous lesion. Those with the highest vitamin D intakes (>645 IU/day) had a significantly lower risk of these lesions.
Further research is needed to determine whether vitamin D inadequacy, in particular, increases cancer risk, whether greater exposure to the nutrient is protective, and whether some individuals could be at increased risk of cancer because of vitamin D exposure.

Vitamin D helps in Other conditions

A growing body of research suggests that vitamin D might play some role in the prevention and treatment of type 1  and type 2 diabetes, hypertension, glucose intolerance, multiple sclerosis, and other medical conditions. However, most evidence for these roles comes from in vitro, animal, and epidemiological studies, not the randomized clinical trials considered to be more definitive. One meta-analysis found a use of vitamin D supplements to be associated with a statistically significant reduction in overall mortality from any cause.


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