Friday, August 19, 2011

Vitamin D, all around nutrient.

If you have filled out the form to the right to learn about products I take you will have already received an information paper on Vitamin D, which is not only a very remarkable nutrient, but one whose importance is often overlooked.

I found an article on Doctor Mercola's site, about the importance of Vitamin D and among the claims he makes is that Vitamin D can boost your all around health, as it is not just a vitamin, but rather the only known substrate for a potent, pleiotropic (meaning it produces multiple effects), repair and maintenance seco-steroid hormone that serves multiple gene-regulatory functions in your body. There are only 30,000 genes in your body and vitamin D has been shown to influence about 3,000 of them. Receptors that respond to the vitamin have been found in almost every type of human cell, from your brain to your bones. And researchers keep finding health benefits from vitamin D in virtually every area they look.

Can vitamin D fight colds and the flu? Yes! Help prevent obesity? It sure can. Tackle depression, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis? Yes, yes and yes! It is estimated that 25 to 50 percent of any health care budget could be saved with adequate vitamin D serum levels.

How Much Vitamin D Do You Need?

The best way to optimize your vitamin D is through safe sun exposure, or alternatively using a safe tanning bed. It is frequently possible to generate about 20,000 units of vitamin D by exposing your skin to the sun.

However, if you do not have access to regular sun exposure on a large portion of your bare skin, a vitamin D3 supplement may be necessary. Based on the most recent research, the current recommendation for dosage is 35 IU’s of vitamin D per pound of body weight. So for a child weighing 40 pounds, the recommended average dose would be 1,400 IU’s daily, and for a 170-pound adult, the dose would be nearly 6,000 IU’s.

MyAchingKnees.com comment: I am currently taking between 2,800 IU to 4,800 IU daily. And loving it. Pushing 53 years old,...working inside, outside, in all weaher conditions and around various animals, I have not ben sick in over 6 years. Some of that has to be due to the nutrients I ensure my body gets.

However, it’s important to realize that vitamin D requirements are highly individual, as your vitamin D status is dependent on numerous factors, such as the color of your skin, your location, and how much sunshine you’re exposed to on a regular basis. So, although these recommendations may put you closer to the ballpark of what most people likely need, it is simply impossible to make a blanket recommendation that will cover everyone’s needs.

The only way to determine the correct dose is to get your blood tested since there are so many variables that influence your vitamin D status. In fact, your vitamin D level should never be below 32 ng/ml, and any levels below 20 ng/ml are considered serious deficiency states, increasing your risk of as many as 16 different cancers and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, just to name a few.

Be sure to click on the Doctor Mercola link and read the entire article.

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1 comment:

  1. Sun is the greatest resource of vitamin D. Many other natural and man-made sources are also available for vitamin D. Like cod live oil, fish oil, eggs etc. but the proper quantity of the vitamin D is also a must thing to be healthy from digestive and skin issues.

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