Living In A Perpetual Vitamin D Winter

I live in Pacifica,CA. This means the winter coat never makes its way to the back of the closet.

While my personal thermometer is content living in “Fog City”, my blood isn’t. Actually, it’s my blood vitami
D level that is suffering. I’m not blaming it on my beloved home town, most Americans are vitami
D deficient…VERY deficient.

The FDA recommends 400 IU daily for adults. That’s pretty much the minimum you need to keep from getting Rickets. If you’re like me, you’re gonna need at least 5,000 IU every day. It's harder than previously believed to overdose on Vit D supplements; but it is possible, especially for babies. So check with your doctor to get your serum Vitamin D level checked today!

Sources of Vitamin D

You can get vitami
D from the sun…sort of and from food…sort of.

Vitamin D from the sun: 7-dehydrocholesterol is a cholesterol precursor. It lives in the deepest layers of the skin and is converted to D3 (the vitami
D we want) when it reacts with UVB rays. Even more specifically, in UV wavelengths between 270–300 nm. Basically we only get this kind of light here in The States during the summer AND right at noon time. In the tropics it’s pretty much year around, and in the Arctic circle, well, sorry Santa, you’ll never get any useful UVBs.

Yes, the sun is the best way to get vitami
D (a good half an hour without sunblock with at least 40% of your skin exposed is a very common recommendation). Now, if it’s not noon in the summer on a sunny day, we are most likely not going to get enough consistent sun to keep The D at optimal levels all year long. The bottom line, most of us are going to have to supplement.

Vitamin D from food: Foods rich in vitami
D are fish like sockeye salmon, sardines, herring, oysters, egg yolks and butter. The highest source is cod liver oil. Plants do have vitami
D, but it’s in the form of D2.

The difference between vitami
D2 and vitami
D3

Vitamin D3 also called Cholecalciferol and Vitamin D2 also called Ergosterol have very similar molecular structures. They both bind to the vitami
D binding protein in the blood. When bound to the protein vitami
D2 and D3 can be stored and given to your body’s cells when they need it. But Vitamin D2 doesn’t bind with as much strength. This means D2 doesn’t get saved and used as easily…more of it gets lost in the blood. So D2 is fine, but not nearly as good D3. Put another way, vitami
D from plants is OK, but vitami
D from animal sources is MUCH better. Because we are so deficient we need to do better tha
OK.

Why we REALLY need vitami
D

Vitamin D isn’t just good for your bones. Breast, colon, intestine, kidney, lung, prostate, retina, skin, stomach and uterine tissues all respond to vitami
D.

Vitamin D affects the following diseases or illnesses: Cancer, autism, type I and II diabetes, flu and colds, eczema, muscle pain and athletic performance, asthma, depression, cystic fibrosis, seizures, macular degeneration, fertility, migraines, schizophrenia, hearing loss, psoriasis, chron’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension and heart disease, obesity, insomnia, aging and cavities.

Vitamin D works in a lot of way to keep us healthy, it inhibits cancer cell proliveration, invasiveness and angiogenesis. It is an anti-inflammatory and it is an antibiotic.
P.S. Vitamin D isn’t technically a vitamin, it is a neuroregulatory steroidal hormone.