Vitamin D: The Forgotten Nutrient

Vitamin D is quite an amazing substance, it doesn't get the praise of it's fellow big hitting vitamins C A or B however there are a number of ailments that Vitamin D works well to combat. In order to give vitamin D its rightful place in the world of vitamins and supplements here are 10 facts you might not have known about Vitamin D:

• Vitamin D is produced by your skin due to exposure to ultra violet radiation (I,e natural sunlight)
• UV light can't penetrate glass so sitting behind a window will not help with the generation of vitamin D.
• It is nigh on impossible to get enough vitamin D from your diet, therefore we rely heavily on sunlight to produce it.
• In order to reach the minimum required levels of vitamin D you would have to drink ten large glasses of vitamin D fortified milk.
• The further you live away from the equator the longer you need to stay in the sun to garner enough vitamin D, this is obviously down to the waning strength of the sun the further away you are from the equator you are.
• People with dark skin can require up to 30 times as much exposure to natural UV light as fair skinned people to generate the same volume of vitamin D.
• Prostate cancer is effectively a sunlight deficiency and it is much more common in light skinned males due to this.rnCalcium absorption relies on vitamin D. Without vitamin D your body can't absorb calcium, rendering the calcium useless.
• Heavy vitamin D deficiencies do not rectify themselves over night, it takes months of supplementation to reverse the effects.
• Weak suncreams (SPF level 8) can block the skins ability to absorb vitamin D, effectively aiding vitamin D deficiencies.
• Vitamin D prevents a number of ailments including osteoporosis, depression, prostate cancer, breast cancer and even the effects of diabetes and obesity.

So there we have it, 10 reasons why vitamin D should be considered as important a supplement as other vitamins and supplements such as collagen supplements and multi-vitamins. Remember also that when supplementing with vitamins and other essential nutrients we must also keep a balanced diet and drink 4 litres of water PER day. This is very important as vitamins and supplements alone will not help to improve your health - it is all about balance in terms of diet, exercise and correct supplementation.