Vitamin D is a vital nutrient that is so readily available (especially during summer months), yet many people are deficient. Vitamin D is called the sunshine vitamin because our bodies manufacture vitamin D on the surface of the skin from UVB rays. Vitamin D plays an important role in our immune system function, bone growth and formation, and now new research is finding more implications to disease prevention. Researchers are looking at vitamin D’s role for cancer prevention, high blood pressure, type 1 diabetes, and falls in the elderly. Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency can be lower back pain, musculoskeletal pain, cancer, & autoimmune diseases (such as MS & rheumatoid arthritis). Unfortunately, majority of the population (children included) is deficient in vitamin D. The best way to know if you are deficient is to have a vitamin D blood test. If your numbers are less than 50 ng/ml, you are deficient. Optimal values fall between 50-70 ng/ml. Values from 70-110 ng/ml can be used to treat heart disease and cancer. Current research is also stating that most people need 35 IU’s per pound of body weight. So, if you weigh 170 pounds, you would need almost 6,000 IU’s a day! Nonetheless, you best source of exposure is going to be the sun or a safe tanning bed. Your body will make 20,000 IU’s at once from the sun. Once you skin turns pink, that is the most vitamin D your body will make for the day. Also!! You will not want to lather/wash with soap over the large areas that were exposed to sun. You still need to wash in areas that need it for hygienic purposes (armpits, groin, etc…) but refrain from the areas exposed to sun for 24-48 hours. Current research is demonstrating it takes the body 24-48 hours to absorb vitamin D from the surface of the skin. Soaps are washing the synthesis off. Rinsing with water will not wash it off! Be mindful of SPF’s as well. Most SPF’s will completely block UVB sunlight and not allow you to absorb vitamin D. In addition, most SPF’s contain extremely harmful chemicals that can be absorbed into your body! Use a natural SPF instead! If you are not able to get adequate sun exposure, you need to supplement to keep your levels up. You will want to supplement with D3 since that is the natural and far superior version of vitamin D. Vitamin D is fat soluble (fat is need to absorb the vitamin) so most supplements will contain a fat with the vitamin. If you do supplement with vitamin D, you will need to monitor your blood values as not to go too high.
If you need to have your blood test done on vitamin D or need a quality vitamin D supplement, please call our office and we can get you on the right path toward bringing your vitamin D levels to optimum!
