Why Your Daily Dose of Vitamin D Is So Important
Vitamin D deficiency affects almost 50% of the population worldwide. One of the reasons this occurs is due to a reduction in outside activities as we are a population that spends most of their time working indoors. Vitamin D has an effect on keeping our bodies healthy, which is why receiving a sufficient amount if so important.
A unique aspect of vitamin D is that it can be synthesized by the body through UVB light exposure from the sun. The sun strikes bare skin, and humans synthesize vitamin D3 from UV rays, which is considered the most “natural” form1. Vitamin D levels change naturally with the seasons. How much UV exposure depends on the time of the year, skin types, ages and vitamin D levels within the body. The body can only absorb so much vitamin D at a time, so be careful of how much sun you are getting.
The World Health Organisation recommends that “5 to 15 minutes of casual sun exposure of hands, face and arms two to three times a week during the summer months is sufficient to keep your vitamin D levels high”.
So, why do we need vitamin D?
Vitamin D has several health benefits to the body. We need vitamin D to help the body absorb calcium and phosphorous, which can help with bone structure. Calcium and phosphorous are used in bones, teeth and muscles. Phosphorous plays a key role in how carbohydrates and fats are used in the body and contributes to normal growth and development3.
Vitamin D deficiency has shown to be associated with an immune system dysfunction, attacking the body instead of the bacteria and leading to an increased susceptibility to infection. Vitamin D modulates T cell production, which are like soldiers that search out and destroy invaders within our immune system.
It is important to have a strong immune response so that your body can fight off different bacteria and viruses, and vitamin D can help with just that.
Vitamin D deficiency can also be seen a lot within vegan diets as a great deal of vitamin D comes from animal sources2. Luckily, Vitamin D can be found in dietary supplements and fortified foods such as fortified plant-based milks, fortified cereals, mushrooms (our favourite) and of course the sun.
Knowing the many contributing factors to vitamin D deficiency as well as the significant role this vitamin plays in our wellbeing, incorporating a supplement into your diet may be highly beneficial.
We have made sure that Vitamin D is in our Self Defense Immune Tonic and Wild Fields Mushroom broth, so that you can get some daily dose of Vitamin D.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3356951/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2677010/#:~:text=Background%3A%20Vegans%20and%20other%20vegetarians,currently%20occurs%20in%20few%20foods.
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002424.htm#:~:text=Function&text=The%20main%20function%20of%20phosphorus,repair%20of%20cells%20and%20tissues
