Quote of the Month
Vitamin D every day, helps to keep the doctor away

 

Happy New Year!

 

We thought it would be the perfect time of year to talk about Vitamin D. Here are 18 interesting facts about Vitamin D:

1. If you wear sunscreen or are behind glass, the UVB rays are blocked and you cannot make vitamin D
2. As your skin receives sunshine and makes vitamin D, antioxidants are turned on in the skin of 91% of people. Their job is to deactivate the free radicals from UV radiation.
3. Depending on your skin colour, it may take 15-90 minutes of sun exposure to make sufficient vitamin D
4. If your sun exposure is in a polluted environment, vitamin D production is reduced as UVB rays are blocked.
5. Between the years 2009 and 2011, vitamin D levels in Canadian children dropped by 10.2%
6. Osteoporosis Canada recommends routine D supplementation for all Canadian adults ‘Year Round’.
7. As we age, our production of vitamin D declines due to the fact that our skin thins, and there is less cholesterol available for the production of vitamin D with sun exposure.
8. New studies link low vitamin D serum levels with ordinary breast cancer incidence.
9. Conception rates, full-term births, caesarean rates and birth weights, all relate directly to D levels.
10. Paediatricians insist breast milk does not contain sufficient D and encourage D supplementation.
11. The cells that pace our heartbeat need D to do their job.
12. White blood cells need adequate vitamin D to do their jobs properly; otherwise autoimmune diseases may occur. White blood cells seek out things like cancer cells and destroy them while you sleep… therefore get enough D!
13. In order to wake up refreshed and not aching all over you need adequate levels of D3.
14. With adequate D, at night when we sleep, our memories are solidified and our serotonin levels rise.
15. Vitamin D helps to improve memory and deal with stress more calmly.
16. D3 is more accurately defined as a hormone, a chemical that our bodies produce on our skin, in the presence of cholesterol and the suns’s UVB rays, that has a direct effect on other organs.
17. There are vitamin D receptors (VDRs) everywhere in our bodies, including our brainstem, stomach, GI tract, pancreas, blood cells, etc. D3 is essential to every cell, but this form is not found in food. Our body must synthesize it and our production of this hormone fluctuates seasonally.
18. Healthy bacteria, that make the majority of our B vitamins in our gut, die off when they don’t get enough vitamin D. The D receptors in our stomach are also directly involved with vitamin B absorption. When we can properly utilize the B vitamins from our food, it has a positive affect on our sleep.

….courtesy of Cheryl Millet

Did You Know?
You need vitamin K2 and D3 together for absorption
Vitamin D is fat soluble… that means you need to consume it with healthy ‘fats’ in order for it to be absorbed
Vitamin D2, the prescription and chemical form of vitamin D is often added to foods. Rats can use this, but humans and other animals such as dogs cannot!

‘Vitamin’ refers to something that our body can’t make.