How Does Your Body Use Vitamin D

Geographical Location And Season

The closer you live to the equator, the more vitamin D youll be able to produce year-round because of your physical proximity to the suns rays.

Conversely, your opportunities for adequate sun exposure decreases proportionally the farther away from the equator you live (

1 ).

While its vital to protect yourself from skin cancer by avoiding overexposure to sunlight, it takes very little unprotected sun exposure for your body to start producing vitamin D.

Although theres no official recommendation, sources suggest that as few as 815 minutes of exposure is enough to make plenty of vitamin D for lighter-skinned individuals. Those with darker skin may need more time .

Best Liquid Vitamins For Adults

• 1. Best Overall: Salus Epresat Adult Multi-Vitamin

Epresat Liquid Multivitamin supplies ten essential vitamins, along with calcium and Vitamin D and is the best choice for those who have difficulty breaking down or absorbing solid vitamins. Liquid vitamins can offer faster absorption since they do not need to be broken down and are immediately available to the body. This can also help to reduce digestive discomfort. As these essential nutrients are already dissolved, they are absorbed more quickly by the digestive system compared to tablets. Epresat contains a blend of fruit juice concentrates and selected herbs for a pleasant fruity taste. Epresat contains no alcohol, preservatives, artificial colorants, or artificial ingredients. It is lactose-free and suitable for vegetarians.

• 2. Best for Women: Naka Nutri Multi for Women

Naka ‘s Nutri Multi for women is an advanced liquid multi-vitamin formula that allows for an increased absorption rate by the body, delivering nutrients more efficiently to help promote your better health. It also features 1000 IU of Vitamin D, which studies suggest could help prevent breast, colon, and ovarian cancers. Take just two 15 ml tablespoons a day and discover how this superior liquid supplement can benefit you!

• 3. Best for Men: Naka Nutri Multi for Men

• 4. Best for Children: Salus Kindervital Children’s Multivitamin

Relationship Between Vitamin D And Cholesterol

There is a quite significant relationship between vitamin D and cholesterol inside the body. Both of them are required by the body to perform all of its proper functions. To put the relationship simple, there will be no vitamin D without any cholesterol in your body. However, the requirement of vitamin D inside the body does not necessarily put us into a requirement of high cholesterol level.

Our body produces cholesterol in the liver and also gets it from the food sources we consume. One of the major functions of cholesterol in our body is its role in synthesis of vitamin D. it means, the absence of cholesterol contributes to the absence of vitamin D, which is essential for our growth. The biggest and most affordable source of vitamin D is sunlight. Upon exposure to sunlight, therefore, the body is able to synthesize its own vitamin D with the help of body cholesterol.

Since cholesterol and vitamin D work hand-in-hand in the production, there is also a connection in dietary sources between vitamin D and cholesterol. This means food sources containing or which are loaded with high cholesterol are high in vitamin D simultaneously. This is one of the reasons why we should pay attention to our cholesterol level before taking in some foods rich in vitamin D. Cod liver oil and eggs are good sources of vitamin D, but those are also a couple of foods which have been researched to contain high level of cholesterol respectively.

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Vitamin D Can Help Prevent Type 1 And Type 2 Diabetes

While studies are not conclusive, vitamin D may be helpful for preventing both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, says Newgent. One such study, published in 2006 in the journal Diabetes Care, found that while vitamin D on its own did not effectively lower the risk of an overabundance of sugar in the blood, a combined daily intake of > 1,200 mg calcium and > 800 IU vitamin D could effectively lower the risk of type 2 diabetes.

How Much Vitamin D3 Supplement Can The Body Absorb At One Time

Related Articles

• Basic Two Classes of Vitamins

Vitamin D-3 is one of the two most common forms of vitamin D, the other being vitamin D-2. Your body usually synthesizes vitamin D-3 through exposure to sunlight, while vitamin D-2 comes most often from supplements. As both vitamins D-2 and D-3 function similarly in the body, they are frequently referred to collectively as vitamin D.

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Vitamin D Can Help Battle Depression

The sun can brighten up your mood, and so can vitamin D. According to a 2017 review article in the journal Neuropsychology, researchers found “a significant relationship between depression and vitamin D deficiency. While they acknowledged that more research is needed to define the exact workings of itsuch as, if low vitamin D levels are a cause or effect of depressionthe authors recommend screening for and treating vitamin D deficiency in subjects with depression noting that it is an easy, cost-effective and may improve depression outcome.

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What Happens If You Take Too Much

It is a myth that it is easy to overdose on vitamin D.

Vitamin D toxicity is very rare and only happens if you take very high doses for extended periods .

The main symptoms of toxicity include confusion, lack of concentration, drowsiness, depression, vomiting, abdominal pain, constipation, and high blood pressure .

SUMMARY

Vitamin D toxicity is very rare. The symptoms include confusion, drowsiness, depression, constipation, and high blood pressure.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin important for bone health.

For those low in this nutrient, increasing intake may also reduce depression and improve strength.

Your skin produces vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Foods like fatty fish, fish oil, and liver also contain vitamin D as well as certain fortified foods and supplements.

Deficiency is fairly common due to limited sunlight exposure and a small selection of rich dietary sources.

If you dont spend much time in the sun and rarely eat fatty fish, consider supplementing.

Getting enough vitamin D can go a long way to boosting your health.

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What Other Factors Can Lead To Vitamin D Deficiency

• Age: The skin’s ability to make vitamin D lessens with age.
• Mobility: People who are homebound or are rarely outside are not able to use sun exposure as a source of vitamin D.
• Skin color: Dark-colored skin is less able to make vitamin D than fair-colored skin.
• Human breast milk: A woman’s breast milk only contains a small amount of vitamin D. Often infant formulas also only include a small amount of D also. Therefore infants are at risk of not receiving enough vitamin D. This is especially true for infants who are only fed breast milk.

What Does Sunlight Have To Do With Getting Enough Vitamin D

There are health benefits of sunlight. Vitamin D is produced when your skin is exposed to sunshine, or rather, the ultraviolet B radiation that the sun emits. The amount of vitamin D that your skin makes depends on such factors as:

• The season: This factor depends a bit on where you live. In areas such as Cleveland, OH, the UV-B light does not reach the earth for six months out of the year due to the ozone layer and the zenith of the sun.
• The time of day: The sun’s rays are most powerful between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
• The amount of cloud cover and air pollution.
• Where you live: Cities near the equator have higher ultraviolet light levels. It is the UV-B light in sunlight that causes your skin to make vitamin D.
• The melanin content of your skin: Melanin is a brown-black pigment in the eyes, hair and skin. Melanin causes skin to tan. The darker your skin, the more sun exposure is needed in order to get sufficient vitamin D from the sun.

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How Do You Get Vitamin D And Calcium

Your body makes Vitamin D when your skin is exposed to sun, but several factors limit its creation:

• Living anywhere in the country above latitude 33 degrees

• Wearing sunscreen to protect against melanoma

• Having naturally dark skin

• Aging, which changes absorption ability

• The amount of sun you would need to achieve normal blood vitamin D levels is probably more than is safe for your skin, so most people may need supplements to achieve a normal vitamin D level.

Either form of vitamin D benefits the body, but very few foods naturally contain the nutrient or are fortified with it. Thats why doctors recommend supplements to make up the difference. Foods containing vitamin D include:

• Cod liver oil: 400-1,000 IU per teaspoon

• Wild caught salmon: 600-1,000 IU per 3.5 oz

• Farmed salmon: 100-250 IU per 3.5 oz

• Canned salmon: 300-600 IU per 3.5 oz

• Canned sardines: 300 IU per 3.5 oz

• Canned mackerel: 250 IU per 3.5 oz

• Canned tuna: 236 IU per 3.5 oz

• Fresh shitake mushrooms: 100 IU per 3.5 oz

• Sundried shitake mushrooms: 1,600 IU per 3.5 oz

• Egg yolk: 20 IU per yolk

Milk, orange juice, infant formula, yogurt, margarine, butter, cheese and breakfast cereals are often fortified with vitamin D.

Calcium is found in:

Stay Aware Of Your Risk

People at-risk for a vitamin D deficiency include those with lactose intolerance or milk allergy as well as those that follow a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. The authors of a January 2018 paper in the International Archives of BioMedical and Clinical Research noted that 91 percent of the older adults surveyed had a deficiency as well. At the other end of the spectrum, breastfed children have a greater risk than bottle-fed children.

Medical conditions that cause your body to poorly digest fat may also cause a deficiency. These conditions include Crohn’s disease, liver disease and ulcerative colitis. Individuals with obesity and patients with gastric bypass surgery also have significant risk.

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How Much Vitamin D From Other Sources

You might already be taking some vitamin D in a multivitamin or other supplement, so you would want to subtract that from your calculated vitamin D dose.

If you take cod-liver oil, you need to read the label to see how much vitamin D you are taking, and subtract that too.

Finally, you can also subtract the vitamin D you get from food, although it is a small amount 150 IU per day is average for a good diet.

Synthetic Analogs Of Vitamin D

• Maxacalcitol is the first analog found to have a wider therapeutic window than 1,252D3.

• Calcipotriol is derived from calcitriol was first discovered during trials involving the use of vitamin D for treating osteoporosis.

• Dihydrotachysterol is a synthetic form of vitamin D that many consider superior to natural D2 and D3. It becomes active by the liver without needing to go through hydroxylation in the kidneys.

• Paricalcitol is also derived from calcitriol. It is the first of the new vitamin D analogs to be approved for secondary hyperparathyroidism and differs from calcitriol in that it lacks the exocyclic carbon 19 and has a vitamin D2 side chain instead of a vitamin D3 side chain.

• Tacalcitol is a derivative of vitamin D3. It is known to hinder keratinocytes in the skin.

• Doxercalciferol D2) is a prodrug and must be activated in vivo. It is less toxic than 1 D3 when administered chronically.

• Falecalcitriol 2-26, 27-F6-D3) is approved for secondary hyperparathyroidism in Japan. It is more active than calcitriol because of its slower metabolism.

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Vitamin D Strengthens Your Bones

Vitamin D is famous for its bone-building and strengthening powers. vitamin D promotes absorption of calcium in your gut, which ultimately allows for normal mineralization of your bones,Jackie Newgent, RDN, culinary nutritionist and author of The Clean & Simple Diabetes Cookbook, tells Health. Basically, the calcium that benefits your bones wouldn’t be able to do its job without vitamin D. You need vitamin D for bone growthand to prevent bones from becoming brittle. When teamed with calcium, it can help prevent osteoporosis, a disease that signifies that the density and quality of bone are reduced, she adds.

Synthesis In The Skin

Vitamin D3 is produced photochemically from 7-dehydrocholesterol in the skin of most vertebrate animals, including humans. The precursor of vitamin D3, 7-dehydrocholesterol is produced in relatively large quantities. 7-Dehydrocholesterol reacts with UVB light at wavelengths of 290â315 nm. These wavelengths are present in sunlight, as well as in the light emitted by the UV lamps in tanning beds . Exposure to light through windows is insufficient because glass almost completely blocks UVB light.

Adequate amounts of vitamin D can be produced with moderate sun exposure to the face, arms and legs , averaging 5â30 minutes twice per week, or approximately 25% of the time for minimal sunburn. The darker the skin, and the weaker the sunlight, the more minutes of exposure are needed. Vitamin-D overdose is impossible from UV exposure: the skin reaches an equilibrium where the vitamin degrades as fast as it is created.

The skin consists of two primary layers: the inner layer called the dermis, and the outer, thinner epidermis. Vitamin D is produced in the keratinocytes of two innermost strata of the epidermis, the stratum basale and stratum spinosum, which also are able to produce calcitriol and express the VDR.

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How To Get Vitamin D

You can make your vitamin D the old-fashioned way, by exposing your skin to UVB radiation in sunlight. It doesn’t take much, but people living north of the 37-degree-latitude line roughly the imaginary line between Philadelphia and San Francisco can’t get enough UVB in winter to do the trick. And many others will find it all too easy to overdose on UVB, increasing their risk of malignant melanomas and other skin cancers, as well as wrinkles and premature skin aging. All in all, most doctors recommend avoiding sunlight and getting vitamin D by mouth.

Diet can help, but it’s very hard to approach the new goals with food alone. Fish and shellfish provide natural vitamin D , but you’ll have to eat about 5 ounces of salmon, 7 ounces of halibut, 30 ounces of cod, or nearly two 8-ounce cans of tuna to get just 400 IU. An egg yolk will provide about 20 IU, but since it also contains nearly a day’s quota of cholesterol, you can’t very well use eggs to fill your tank with D. Other foods have even less D, which is why manufacturers fortify milk, some yogurt, some orange juice, and many cereals with vitamin D. In general, a serving will provide about 100 IU that means drinking a quart of fortified milk to get 400 IU.

Help Protect Against Heart Disease And Stroke

Is vitamin D heart-healthy? A prior review of 19 studies linked adequate vitamin D to a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and heart failure. Yet the VITAL study, a large, randomized clinical trial study involving more than 25,000 participants and published in January 2019 in the New England Journal of Medicine, found no risk reduction for strokes, heart attacks or cardiovascular deaths in people who took 2,000 IU supplements daily.

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What Happens If I Take Too Much Vitamin D

Taking too many vitamin D supplements over a long period of time can cause too much calcium to build up in the body . This can weaken the bones and damage the kidneys and the heart.

If you choose to take vitamin D supplements, 10 micrograms a day will be enough for most people.

Do not take more than 100 micrograms of vitamin D a day as it could be harmful. This applies to adults, including pregnant and breastfeeding women and the elderly, and children aged 11 to 17 years.

Children aged 1 to 10 years should not have more than 50 micrograms a day. Infants under 12 months should not have more than 25 micrograms a day.

Some people have medical conditions that mean they may not be able to safely take as much. If in doubt, you should consult your doctor.

If your doctor has recommended you take a different amount of vitamin D, you should follow their advice.

You cannot overdose on vitamin D through exposure to sunlight. But always remember to cover up or protect your skin if you’re out in the sun for long periods to reduce the risk of skin damage and skin cancer.

Page last reviewed: 03 August 2020 Next review due: 03 August 2023

Treatment And Prevention Strategies

Vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 can be used for the treatment and prevention of VDD . In patients with extrarenal production of 1,252D, serial monitoring of 25D levels and serum calcium levels during treatment with vitamin D to prevent hypercalcemia is suggested . Primary hyperparathyroidism and VDD need treatment with vitamin D.

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Vitamin D And Safe Sun Exposure

UV levels vary depending on the time of year, and the amount of sun exposure you need varies accordingly.

The ‘daily sun protection times’ indicate when the UV level is forecast to be three or above. During these times, people are recommended to use a combination of sun protection measures .Check the free SunSmart app or the Bureau of Meteorology website for daily sun protection times for your location.