Vitamin D — The Sunshine Vitamin
Benefits of vitamin-D and dangers of deficiency
Hi guys, hope you are all doing well. Today I want to share a very important topic about vitamin D, also known as the sunshine vitamin. Unlike other vitamins, vitamin d is unique — the ability to get produced in our body from the sun.
Vitamin D is the easiest to get and also has serious consequences if we ignore it. I have got my experience with it. For the last 2 years, I’m spending most of my time indoors. Our new house is pretty close and we get hardly any sunlight inside.
I usually don’t go outside except for doing some chores in the late evenings. It was all good in the beginning for a few months, but then I started feeling sluggish day by day. You know that tired feeling you get when you don’t get enough sleep or exhausted from some work; I felt exactly the same way. I thought it might be because of some hormone imbalance or changes in food intake. But no relief, it became stronger pain. I visited a doctor, and she suggested eating healthy food and having an exercise routine. I have made a couple of changes to my daily routine and incorporated more nutrition into my diet.
I see no difference in my strength. I used to get frequent colds and at one stage; I started getting a toothache. Then I went to the dentist, and he suggested some medication. But nobody has said any proper reason for this. At least one doctor should have thought of that. After a few days, I went myself to a full checkup of my body including nutritional profiles, blood tests, and all. Most of them are in the normal range and a couple of them are below normal. But one thing was way below normal, that is vitamin D. It is very misleading that nobody has thought of that as a root cause. When we feel fatigued, we attribute it to our food or some activity.
My Test Result
To measure vitamin D levels in your body, a 25- hydroxy-vitamin test is used. My result for vitamin D is only 6 mcg/ml. Normally 20 mcg/ml to 50 mcg/ml is required for healthy people. Less than 12 mcg/ml indicates vitamin D deficiency. Then I use medications like Vit D3 soft gel capsules, Vit d powder mix, calcium, and Vit d combination tabs, which helped me regain my levels.
My overview about vitamin D
Most people, like me, neglect the importance of getting exposed to sunlight. But as per my experience, it is difficult to identify symptoms, until we went through actual lab tests. And worse, we attribute these symptoms to something else.
Vitamin D plays a key role in the absorption of calcium intake. If we don’t have enough vitamin d, then we probably don’t have enough calcium. Even though we eat nutritious foods, those don’t get absorbed by our bodies. I got shocked that if the strongest part in our body, teeth, has become delicate, then what’s the matter with our other body parts! Everyone has to check their levels and if necessary take vitamin D tablets.
People who are already suffering from any of the below symptoms should check for vitamin D levels in their body.
Symptoms
- Painful bones
- Aching muscles
- Sleepless nights
- Depression
- Losing hair
- Excessive body weight
- Recurring infections
- Getting cold frequently
- Sense of not feeling well
How much vitamin D is required per day?
Vitamin d requirement varies with age groups. This vitamin D can be stored in our body for few months. Below are the values that require per day.
For infants: 400 IU' S or 10 micrograms/ml
For children and teens: 600 IU' S or 15 micrograms /ml
For adults: 800IU’S or 20 micrograms/ml
FOODS that contain vitamin D
It is difficult to get vitamin D from regular diets because very few foods contain vitamin D.
Foods that contain vitamin D per one serving:
Cod liver oil per one tablespoon: 34.0micrograms
Salmon cooked (3 ounces): 14.2 micrograms
Mushrooms (exposed to UV rays) half cup:9.2 micrograms
Soy, almonds (1 cup): 2.5 to 3.6 micrograms.
Others like vitamin d fortified ready-made cereals, eggs, fortified milk, etc. contain less vitamin d. In these foods, mushrooms are the only source of vitamin d for vegans.
Sun is the best source of vitamin D
The best way to get vitamin D is from Sun. When our body is exposed to sunlight, the sun’s ultraviolet B rays hit cholesterol in the skin cells, thus energy is released to synthesize Vit d. Generally, people think early morning sunlight (6–8) is more beneficial for our body as it boosts immunity power. But this sunlight cannot produce vitamin d. Ultraviolet B rays only have the ability to produce vitamin D. Perfect time to soak your body for vitamin d is between 10 am to 2 pm. Take precautions when exposing your skin to sunlight. Some people are very sensitive to the sun, so apply moisturizers and don’t put your face directly to the sun, turn back to the sun and stay for some time.
How much time is enough to get vitamin D
It varies from person to person depends on skin colour. 15–25 mins are enough for light skin. For darker skin, it takes about 1 hr. This is because dark skin contains high amounts of melanin than light skin. This melanin acts as a protector from the sun. Skin colour depends only on these melanin levels. Vitamin D deficiency is more prevalent among Africans as they have dark skin.
People who are at risk
- People who are spending most of the time indoors.
- People who are working in closed rooms or houses that contain less ventilation.
- People who apply heavy sunscreen lotions to avoid skin cancers and sunburns. Recent studies said that sunscreens with SPF 30 or more reduce vitamin d production in the body by 95–98%. It’s better to apply very lightly and stay for some more time in the sun for vitamin D.
- Wearing cooling glasses as closed window glasses block Ultraviolet B rays.
- Aged people are also not able to produce vitamin D in their bodies, because of thickness in the skin and not having active cells to produce vitamin D.
- People who are obese, because their body fat binds to some vitamin D and prevents it from getting into the blood.
- People who take medications, that affect vitamin D metabolism.
Benefits of Vitamin D
- Vitamin D fights diseases
- Reduce depression
- Boosts immune system
- Boosts weight loss.
- Helps in absorption of calcium and phosphorus
- Vitamin d plays a key role in the maintenance of normal bones and teeth
- Vitamin d is needed for the normal growth and development of bone in children.
Conclusion
Finally, I get recovered after following the above things and happy to see my vitamin D test results recently. There is an increase in vitamin D levels from 6 mcg/ml to 25 mcg/ml. Hope this article along with my experience may help to think you. Thank you!
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