What You Need to Know about Vitamin D

Mass media coverage of vitamin D has brought knowledge of it to the forefront, and yet vitamin D deficiency is so prevalent that there has actually been a resurgence of the rickets. Rumors abound, distorting the truth about this life-saving nutrient. Find out what you truly need to know about vitamin D.

The Fundamentals of Vitamin D

– Vitamin D is produced by your skin in response to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight.
Your body cannot create vitamin D behind glass; UV rays are filtered through glass. You must be in direct exposure to sunlight!

– Sunscreens hamper your ability to create vitamin D. Even the lower SPF sunscreens, such as SPF 8, reduce your body's ability to generate vitamin D by 95%. It would require ten tall glasses of vitamin D fortified milk to get the minimum required daily intake of vitamin D into your system.

– Vitamin D3 can be purchased in supplement form and is better than vitamin D2 in supplement form, which your body has trouble processing.

– Most people are deficient in vitamin D.

– Many health experts recommend taking around 5,000 IU vitamin D daily, but this amount varies. The best way to gauge how much you should be taking is to get a blood test.

Of course, the amount of sunshine it takes to meet your daily requirements varies quite largely. It depends on your geographical location, the time of day, the season, and the atmospheric condition. It is often easier to supplement with vitamin D3, the natural form of the vitamin. Many lower-end multivitamins contain vitamin D2 which is the synthetic version of vitamin D. It can be potentially harmful to the body and is not utilized properly.

If you choose to intake your vitamin D via sunshine, then you should consistently test the level of vitamin D in your blood to ensure that you are getting enough. This is the surest way to determine if you are vitamin D deficient.

Some Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency Include:

Chronic Back Pain (One of the most common symptoms)
Musculoskeletal Pain
Irritable Bowel Disease
Inflammatory Pain
Nerve Pain or Neuropathy
Bone Pain

Vitamin D deficiency is scarcely mentioned by the medical establishment as the cause for these symptoms or conditions. The only way to find out if a vitamin D deficiency is the cause of your pain is to start supplementing each day and see if the symptoms are relieved, or again to utilize a blood test.

Vitamin D is a free vitamin that can help relieve a host of medical conditions and prevent most forms of cancer. It's amazing to note that despite this, many do not take advantage of this magnificent vitamin. Educate yourself on its many benefits and take advantage of them to better your health.