6 Health Benefits of Vitamin D: #1 May Surprise You
Learn why Vitamin D is essential to so many functions in your body.
You’ve probably heard of Vitamin D – the prohormone your body produces when you’re exposed to the sun. But did you know that almost half the people in the US are deficient in this essential nutrient? (1)
There are a few reasons you could be deficient in Vitamin D. The foods you eat today are low in nutrients. And you spend a ton of time indoors outside of the sun during winter or busy work seasons.
So, how can you figure out if you have a Vitamin D deficiency, and safely increase your exposure? Well, you're about to find out.
The Role of Vitamin D in Your Body
Vitamin D is an essential nutrient that plays a role in countless bodily functions. The cells and tissues in your muscles, immune system, heart, and brain all have Vitamin D receptors.
How does it all work? Vitamin D gets converted into an active prohormone, Calcitriol, in your kidneys and liver. This requires other important cofactors. This process is known as hydroxylation. Once this process occurs, the active hormone can be distributed throughout the body. (6)
One of Vitamin D's important roles is to help your body regulate calcium and phosphorus levels in your blood. This process, along with other essential cofactors and hormones, promotes and maintains healthy bones.
If you want to keep your bones strong as you grow older, Vitamin D can help.
Maybe you already knew that Vitamin D contributes to bone health. But it’s also crucial to other bodily functions, including…
Cellular growth
Glucose metabolism
Regulating insulin
Healthy muscle function
Regulating your immune system
Intestinal Barrier Integrity
Sources: (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)
How do all these bodily functions translate into your health and wellness? To explain, here are the resulting health benefits of Vitamin D:
Healthier immune system. More and more studies are finding that Vitamin D plays an essential role in maintaining a healthy immune system. The hormone helps your gut and immune system stay healthy and communicate. Calcitriol has been shown to enhance the antimicrobial capabilities of these innate immune cells to fight off pathogens. (12)
This can potentially reduce your risk of infectious and inflammatory illnesses and autoimmune diseases. It's no surprise that Vitamin D deficiency is linked to autoimmune conditions.(2)Keeps your gut healthy. Your gut handles absorbing and distributing the nutrients you ingest in your food. It also has a barrier to avoid undesired substances, like food molecules from leaking outside of the intestines. Vitamin D plays a key role in maintaining the gut barrier. Compromised intestinal barrier integrity can lead to intestinal permeability, aka leaky gut, resulting in issues such as food sensitivities, chronic inflammation, allergies, asthma, arthritis, and ultimately autoimmune diseases.
Rickets prevention. Rickets is a condition that occurs in children as a result of a prolonged Vitamin D deficiency. Rickets causes bone problems such as weak muscles and bones, delayed growth, fractures, and pain. (3)
Promote healthy pregnancy. As we said, Vitamin D plays an essential role in growing and maintaining healthy bones. Increasing Vitamin D exposure can help your baby grow healthy and strong.
Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is also linked to induced hypertension, high blood pressure in diabetic pregnancy, gestational diabetes mellitus, recurrent pregnancy loss, preterm delivery, primary Cesarean section, and postpartum depression. (13)Controls Gene Expression. Vitamin D controls the expression of over 200 genes. It controls cell growth and differentiation in a variety of tissues. Most of these actions are mediated by activation of the nuclear Vitamin D receptor, which regulates the transcription of vitamin D target genes. (14)
Increased mood. Seasonal depression disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that occurs in the winter. Decreasing time spent outside and in activities leads some to feel depressed. Spending more time outside in the sun can increase your mood. (15)
Vitamin D can prevent illness and promote health. No wonder it's a frequently researched health topic in the U.S.
Can Vitamin D Prevent Cancer?
Scientists are still testing whether Vitamin D can definitively prevent cancer. While there's not enough evidence to prove that Vitamin D prevents all cancers, there are promising studies on its role in certain ones.
For example, research suggests that Vitamin D could decrease the risk of colon, breast, prostate, and ovarian cancer. Many studies discovered a link between higher Vitamin D levels and a lower risk of getting these types of cancers. (3)
Regardless, it's clear that Vitamin D plays an essential role in a healthy gut and immune system. Your immune system supports your entire body's ability to fight any type of disease. So, maintaining healthy levels of Vitamin D can always add extra support to your body.
Safe Ways to Increase Your Vitamin D Intake
You know you probably need to get more Vitamin D. But you're also told to stay out of the sun for your skin health. So, which is it?
There is a way to safely get Vitamin D from sunlight. You don't need to spend hours in the sun to benefit. Try to expose yourself to the sun for 20-30 minutes each day, around midday. Avoid using sunscreen during this short period of time, because it blocks vitamin production and contains other highly toxic substances which should be avoided at all costs.
The sun and UV rays are strongest around 12 pm. Spending a shorter amount of time in strong rays is more effective than a long time in weak UV rays. Grab your supplies and head to the park to get some work done in the sun – your body will thank you.
Of course, you can’t always increase your sun exposure. It may not be warm enough wherever you are. And we both know that work and busy life keep you indoors most of the time.
These are a few alternate ways to increase your Vitamin D intake:
Take a Vitamin D Supplement. I recommend taking a supplement to increase your body's production of Vitamin D. Vitamin D supplements are available in two forms: Vitamin D2 and Vitamin D3. These are inactive forms and require other supplements as cofactors to convert them to the active form.
The American Medical Association recommends a supplement amount of 20 ng/mL. But an increasing amount of research shows that 60 to 80 ng/mL is an ideal level for health and disease prevention. (4)
But keep in mind other cofactors, like magnesium and vitamin K2, are important and supplementing with vitamin D.
Without magnesium, Vitamin D supplementation can cause other health issues by depleting this master mineral for its conversion to the final active form. Most people are already deficient in magnesium, so adding Vitamin D to your regimen without the right form of magnesium can be detrimental to your health. (18)
While Vitamin D, along with other hormones, facilitates the uptake of calcium into the bloodstream, Vitamin K2 is necessary for the uptake of calcium into the bones. Without Vitamin K2, Vitamin D cannot support bone health. (19)
Also, high doses of vitamin D can have adverse effects, such as immunosuppression - so be sure you’re not overloading your body. (16)
Appropriate Vitamin D supplementation is a detail-oriented process that requires data and knowledge to do it appropriately. We always recommend seeking professional assistance to avoid causing more harm than good.
Eat Foods High in Vitamin D. One simple way you can take control of your own vitamin intake is by increasing the amount you consume in your diet. A few foods that are dense in Vitamin D include:
Wild-caught fish, e.g. salmon, cod, trout, mackerel, sardines, herring (although high in Vitamin D, avoid large fish like swordfish and tuna due to their high levels of mercury, a toxic element that is damaging to the brain and nervous system)
Eggs (it's in the yolks, so no more egg whites. Eat the whole egg!)
Mushrooms
Beef liver
Chicken
Almonds
Unfortunately, modern farming practices have stripped the soil of natural nutrients. So, there’s a chance the foods you consume won’t have a sufficient amount of Vitamin D. That’s why it’s effective to pair your diet with a Vitamin D supplement. (17)
Plus, your gut plays a role in countless bodily functions. So, being aware of and intentionally improving your gut health is important. Many disease processes begin in the gut.
Sunshine is the most effective way to increase your body’s production of Vitamin D naturally. But it’s not the only way to increase your Vitamin D levels. Try these alternate options to keep yourself healthy.
How to Know if You’re Deficient in Vitamin D
With almost half the U.S. population being deficient in Vitamin D, there’s a good chance your body needs more of this helpful hormone. To know for sure, schedule a consultation with Denver Sports and Holistic Medicine.
During your initial consultation, we’ll analyze your health goals and any symptoms you may be feeling. Then, we can perform functional lab testing to uncover any Vitamin D and other nutrient deficiencies.
Together, we’ll create a plan to increase your Vitamin D levels through lifestyle, diet, and supplementation. We become your partner on the path to optimal health.
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