Vitamin D has been in the news loads for its immune system benefits. It helps to regulate the immune system meaning it boosts it if low and calms it down if overactive – both have their individual challenges.
Vitamin D has many other health benefits
It helps your digestive system to absorb and store essential minerals including calcium and phosphate/phosphorous which is why it is so good for your bones, joints, teeth, and muscles.
If you experience chronic pains, it could well be worth checking your Vitamin D levels as I have observed improvement in many patients over the years once they have re-gained adequate levels. Without meaning to confuse magnesium deficiency is also common with aches and pains and magnesium is important to help your body make use of vitamin D.
Vitamin D helps recycle the calcium in your kidneys so it can be reabsorbed rather than lost when you urinate.
It also has a role in making certain hormones including oestrogen, as well as playing a part in making new cells in your body and reducing inflammation (part of how it also helps the immune system)
Vitamin D is known as the sunshine vitamin because your body needs UVB rays to hit the skin, Cholesterol in your skin then converts it into Vitamin D3. Magical eh! As a side fact, technically it isn’t really a vitamin it is a hormone.
Reasons Why You May Be Vitamin D Deficient
- You don’t get outside enough.
- You’re pregnant or breastfeeding.
- You live in the Northern Hemisphere so there isn’t enough sun from October-April. Some years maybe not even enough in an English summer.
- You always use sunscreen or cover-up so UVB can’t get to your skin. We’ve also written a blog to make sure that you are safe in the sun.
- If you are darker skinned, darker skin takes longer to make Vitamin D3.
You are overweight or obese. There is a lot of research suggesting that although your body can make vitamin D, it doesn’t always become available in the blood in the same way.
Higher abdominal fat is often highlighted as a factor, but it’s not entirely clear whether that’s a cause or an effect.
There is also the idea that because vitamin D is stored in fat cells, the more body fat you have, the more your body may need.
Interestingly, there are even some studies suggesting that supplementation could support weight loss…!
Here’s your section with that added in, keeping your tone and flow:
Whatever the reason, or wherever you live, it is important to avoid overdosing and causing toxicity. There really can be too much of a “good thing”. It’s an important factor to keep in mind, especially when news about deficiency seems to be everywhere at the moment.
Vitamin D, calcium and magnesium work closely together, so both need to be in balance.
If you have too much vitamin D and not enough calcium available in the blood, your body may start taking calcium from areas such as your bones and muscles to compensate.
Magnesium plays an important role in activating vitamin D and helping to regulate calcium, so everything can work together properly.
So, please don’t just assume you need to take vitamin D in isolation. And if you do, it’s often better to take smaller doses and make sure you’re also getting enough calcium and magnesium (which is thought to be deficient in around 50% of the population).
There is also some discussion around vitamin K2, as it’s thought to help guide calcium to where it’s needed in the body. The research is still evolving, but it’s something worth being aware of when looking at the bigger picture.
As a side note your body can store Vitamin D for around 3 months. Adequate levels are linked to how you feel (the sunshine vitamin can help you to feel sunny inside) this is the reason behind the saying ‘winter blues. By December you could well be running low, coupled with the longer dark nights won’t help how you feel.
Going back to my original point. It is important to make check your vitamin levels, to begin with.
This NHS lab in Birmingham offers a fantastic service. I have used them myself. At the time of writing, it costs just £29 to get your results privately.
So How Do You Avoid Vitamin D Deficiency When It’s Not Sunny?
You can through some foods although this is much more difficult if you are vegetarian or vegan as those foods are:
- Oily fish – such as salmon, sardines, herring, and mackerel.
- Liver.
- Red meat.
- Egg yolks free range and organic. It is important that the yolks are runny as an ingredient within them helps your body extract the goodness (lecithin) It is deactivated once the yolk is hard.
- Mushrooms e.g. Shiitake.
Vitamin D Supplements
If after testing, you know your levels are low or you just want to make sure your levels are topped up over winter
Remember not all supplements are the same. To some degree, you get what you pay for. If it’s cheap it may well contain Vitamin D but can your body do anything with it?
You may have seen the news articles about supplements being a waste of time because people wee it out. From professional experience the issue may not be the supplement but your digestive system that needs help and support so you can absorb the goodness from everything you consume not just supplements.
Make sure that the supplements you buy are what is known as ‘bio available’ and ‘food state’.
If a vitamin supplement is artificial/chemically made it can cause inflammation in your body. If you already take supplements check what you are taking in case vitamin D is already included. Plus, if you have already been taking a supplement with Vitamin D please check your levels first before adding more.
If you’re vegan or begetarian did you know that many Vitamin D supplements are made from lanolin (often the oil from sheep’s wool) I know I was shocked when I first discovered this…. There are vegan/vegetarian supplements out there which are often made from lichen.
If feel that you would benefit from more tailored care without the guess work then we can work together using Systematic Kinesiology. Where we can find the precise support your body needs. Appointments are available in-person from our home clinic near Kingsbury Episcopi, South Somerset. If you’d like to find out more feel free to book yourself in for a complimentary 30-minute call with Rachael.
