subject: What is Vitamin D and Why is Everyone Talking About it? [print this page] More and more, we are hearing about the dangers of Vitamin D deficiency in the news, on the television and radios, and from our health practitioners. The normal reaction to all this furor by us regular folks is, "What's the big deal?" Well, it is a big deal and one we all need to get up to speed on because we have a significant medical time-bomb on our collective hands.
So, to help educate us all about Vitamin D and it's many uses, let's begin:
Vitamin D is not really a vitamin; it is instead a hormone that works with just about every system in the body. At first, vitamin D was believed to be an instrumental part in bone development and that was all. We all grew up learning about the dangers of rickets and our mothers used to tell us to eat our vegetables, drink our milk, and go outside and play. Maybe they knew this was exactly the way to avoid a deficiency in vitamin D; maybe they didn't, but because we did as we were told, we never had to worry about rickets.
The human skin can produce vitamin D from exposure to the sun. Even a short exposure to the sun can make some vitamin D but it has to be the right time of day, the right latitude and the right time of year. With the advent of sunscreens, the change in our child rearing habits, the advent of television and computer games, and the issue of safety when your children are out of doors, we have all become candidates for a vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin D is present in a wide range of human cells and this hormone affects not only mineral metabolism, but also affects calcium absorption in the intestines. Without proper absorption of calcium, your bones and nerves are unable to grow and function correctly. Receptors for the active form of vitamin D are being found not only in the intestines, but also in the renal, parathyroid and skeletal tissues as well as in skin, breast, pancreas, and connective tissue.
Vitamin D may play a part in insulin secretion due to its action on the beta cells of the pancreas. Vitamin D is even associated with high blood pressure and strokes. Proper levels of vitamin D can be proven to help the body against breast, prostate and colon cancers by regulating how cells grow and how cells die.
Vitamin D plays an important role in pregnancy, too. Studies have proven that with adequate vitamin D in the body, complications in pregnancy are decreased. Things like infection, gestational diabetes mellitus, and even pre-term delivery can be reduced by giving pregnant women higher doses of vitamin D.
Not all vitamin D is the same. Research now supports the D3 form over the D2 form as the supplement of choice. Cholecalciferol, which is another name for D3, is more potent and is not generally associated with toxic effects from taking high doses of the vitamin.
When vitamin D levels are low, the body just doesn't seem to work as well. Research now supports the role of this vitamin in depression, chronic pain, arthritis, hypertension, inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, premenstrual syndrome, muscular weakness, fibromyalgia, crohns disease, multiple sclerosis and alzheimer's disease.
This deficiency is affecting us all. Our children are at risk, our elders are at risk, our teenagers are at risk, our mothers and fathers are risk. Overall, 40% of men and 50% of women are thought to be deficient in vitamin D. We need to arm ourselves with information and get our bodies tested to determine which group we belong in. If we are deficient, then supplementation is called for. If we are not deficient, we need to make sure to continue eating right and getting enough sunshine daily.
What is Vitamin D and Why is Everyone Talking About it?
