The Vitamin D Story

Research into vitamin D over the past two decades has revealed a spectacular amount of solid evidence backing its importance for countless aspects of human health.

In the past, vitamin D was primarily regarded as an important nutrient for bone health, and it was conventionally thought that a person had enough vitamin D as long as they didn't have bone diseases like rickets or osteomalacia.

But new research shows how wrong this assumption was, as higher levels of vitamin D are necessary to provide protection from more serious chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, infections, multiple sclerosis etc.

The factor that sets vitamin D apart from many other nutrients is that vitamin D receptors are present in virtually every tissue and cell in your body, and as a review in the Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine reported:

 

The best source for getting your vitamin D is from regular sun exposure whenever possible, but Dr. Seneff's review of how vitamin D—specifically from sun exposure—is intricately tied to healthy cholesterol and sulfur levels, makes this recommendation all the more important. (See Dr Mercola’s interview here http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/09/17/stephanie-seneff-on-sulfur.aspx).

As a quick summary, when you expose your skin to sunshine, your skin synthesizes vitamin D3 sulfate. Unlike oral vitamin D3 supplements (which are unsulfated), sunlight-formed vitamin D sulfate is water soluble. The water-soluble form can travel freely in your bloodstream, whereas the unsulfated form needs LDL (the so-called "bad" cholesterol) as a vehicle of transport. Dr. Seneff's suspicion is that the oral non-sulfated form of vitamin D may not provide all of the same benefits as the vitamin D created in your skin from sun exposure, because it is not readily converted into vitamin D sulfate.

This is a very compelling reason to make a deliberate effort to get most of your vitamin D requirements from exposure to sunshine, or by using a safe tanning bed (one with electronic ballasts rather than magnetic ballasts, to avoid unnecessary exposure to EMF fields). If neither of these are feasible options, then you should take an oral vitamin D3 supplement.

It is very difficult to get enough vitamin D from food sources alone, as very few foods naturally contain vitamin D -- and those that do will not contain enough to optimize your levels.

Interestingly, the only vitamin not found in breast milk is vitamin D. This can be considered a giant clue that we were NOT designed to get our vitamin D through the oral route through our food.   Rather, we were designed to produce it by exposing our skin to natural sunlight. Lack of sun exposure is really the very root of the problem, as historically speaking, vitamin D deficiency is a fairly recent health concern.

 

How Much Sun Exposure Do You Need?

Occasional sunlight exposure to your face and hands is not sufficient for vitamin D nutrition for most people. To optimize your levels, you need to expose large portions of your skin to the sun, and you may need to do it for more than a few minutes. Contrary to popular belief, the best time to be in the sun for vitamin D production is actually as near to solar noon as possible. Ultraviolet light from the sun comes in two main wavelengths -- UVA and UVB. It's important to understand the difference between them, and the risk factors from each.

First there is UVB, the healthy wavelengths that help your skin produce vitamin D. Then there is UVA, which is generally considered the unhealthy wavelengths because they penetrate your skin more deeply and cause more free radical damage. Not only that, but UVA rays are quite constant during ALL hours of daylight, throughout the entire year -- unlike UVB, which are low in morning and evening, and high at midday.

So to use the sun to maximize your vitamin D production and minimize your risk of skin damage, the middle of the day (roughly between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.) is the best and safest time. During this UVB-intense period you will need the shortest sun exposure time to produce the most vitamin D.

As far as the optimal length of exposure, you only need enough to have your skin turn the lightest shade of pink. This may only be a few minutes for those who have very pale skin.

Once you have reached this point your body will not make any additional vitamin D and any further exposure will only result in damage to your skin. Most people with fair skin will max out their vitamin D production in just 10-20 minutes, or, again, when their skin starts turning the lightest shade of pink. Some will need less, others more. The darker your skin, the longer exposure you will need to optimize your vitamin D production.

 

If sun exposure or a safe tanning bed are not realistic options, you can use an oral form of vitamin D. Make sure, if you supplement, that you are using vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) and not the inferior form known as vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol). 

A good source is the BioCare product – BioMulsion D from http://www.biocare.co.uk/default.aspx?GroupGuid=187