Vitamin D (calciferol) - how important it is?

Vitamin D (calciferol) - how important it is?
The effect on body
Immunity

vitamin d There is an ongoing scientific debate about how much vitamin D people need every day. Some scientists recommend to triple the daily norm of vitamin D for children and adults in some countries. It is reported that the increase in the daily rate of 2,000 to 4,000 IU per day is safe. The new regulations, however, do not provide sufficient evidence to some recent studies of vitamin D and its impact on health. For bone health and prevention of chronic diseases many people are likely to need more of vitamin D, than the recommended new rules.

Lack of Vitamin D: a world problem

If you live north of that line, which connects San Francisco to Philadelphia and Athens to Beijing, it is likely that you do not have enough vitamin D. The same applies to you if you do not walk in the sun at least 15 minutes a day. People with dark skin and overweight have a much lower level of vitamin D.

Approximately one billion people worldwide suffer from a lack of vitamin D in the blood, and this defect can be detected in people of all ages and ethnic groups. In industrial countries, doctors even watch the return of rickets - a disease which weakens bones, which can be treated effectively enhanced intake of vitamin D.

Why is this a widespread vitamin D deficiency is a matter of such concern? Because the studies carried out over the past decade suggest that vitamin D plays a much more important role in the fight against disease than was once thought.

Deficiency of the vitamin may increase the risk of many chronic diseases, such as osteoporosis, heart disease, some types of cancer, and multiple sclerosis, as well as infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, and even seasonal influenza.

Sources of vitamin D and its action

Vitamin D is a nutrient and that we use, and the hormone that our body produces. Very little of the nature of products rich in vitamin D, so that the main sources of vitamin D - are products with the addition of vitamin and vitamin supplements.

For most people, the best way to get enough vitamin D is supplementation, but its content is in most multivitamins is too low (400 IU). Well, some manufacturers have added 800 to 1,000 IU of vitamin D in their standard multivitamin preparations. If a multivitamin, you are taking contain 1,000 IU of vitamin D, you may want to consider adding to this individual drugs of vitamin D, especially if you do not spend much time in the sun. Discuss this with your doctor.

The additives used are two forms of vitamin D: vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) or provitamin D, and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Vitamin D3 is chemically indistinguishable from forms of vitamin D, produced by the body.

The body also produces vitamin D from cholesterol Cholesterin Through a process which is activated by exposure to sunlight on the skin, so it is also called vitamin sunlight. Still, some people do not get enough vitamin D from the sun, among them - those with darker skin, those who suffer from overweight, elderly people, and those who covers your skin while in the sun.

Correctly apply sunscreen Sunscreen: summer trends It reduces our ability to absorb vitamin D by more than 90 percent. And not just in the sunlight helps produce it: the sun's ultraviolet rays, so-called "sun rays", and rays that help the skin to produce vitamin D, more near the equator, and less at higher latitudes. Therefore, autumn and winter the people who live at higher latitudes (for example, in the northern states of the US and Europe), almost can not produce vitamin D from sun exposure.

Vitamin D helps in the absorption by the body and maintain the level of calcium and phosphorus, essential for bone structure. Laboratory studies show that vitamin D may reduce the growth of cancer cells, and plays a vital role in resistance to infection. Many organs and tissues of the body have receptors for vitamin D, and scientists are still studying its other possible functions.

A new study Vitamin D: more than bone structure

Many studies investigating the properties of vitamin D, look not only to his role in the structure of bones. The media reported the news every time the study comes to the conclusion about the relationship of vitamin D with some new disease. However, these messages can be confusing, because some studies less valid than the other, and each such communication should be considered in light of all other evidence. More answers may be obtained from randomized studies, such as the study of vitamin D and omega-3, which involved 20,000 healthy men and women to see whether reducing daily consumption of 2000 IU of vitamin D and 1,000 mg of fish oil Fish oil - from childhood the risk of cancer, heart disease and strokes.

Some of the most promising areas of research of vitamin D underline the complex role of vitamin D prevent disease, but also left many questions unanswered.