Vitamin D and how important it is for our bodies to be healthy

Her are 3 benefits of Vitamin D3 or the “sunshine vitamin”:

  1. Brain health
Vitamin D is so important for your nervous system in general, your brain is the control centre for your whole body and is made up of many nerve endings. There is promising research recently that links low vitamin D levels with Alzheimer’s disease. This is not to say that taking Vitamin D by itself will stop Alzheimer’s disease, but considering that 90 percent of people studied with the condition have low levels of Vitamin D levels, it makes sense to make sure that we have optimal levels. In one study of 300 elderly people, there was a 200% increase in Alzheimer’s cases in people with low blood levels of Vitamin D (1).
  1. Support for Autoimmune Disorders

Autoimmune disorders have been on the increase in recent decades, over 80 different types of disorders have been classified in this time. Vitamin D is a strong immune system regulator. An autoimmune condition is one where the body, through the immune system (white blood cells, killer T cells etc) attacks healthy tissue and organs, a process that does not ordinarily happen. One recent study showed that in women who took 400 IU/day of vitamin D, they had a 40% reduction in RA (rheumatoid arthritis). Another study showed that with high doses of vitamin D, symptoms of RA improved in 89% of patients and 45% of patients showed complete remission (2). 

  1. Boost your immune system

Colds and flus are all something we are all familiar with, especially at certain times of the year. For many of us finding out how to beat them in a source of eternal debate. Vitamin D is thought to simulate powerful peptides in white blood cells and epithelial cells which line the respiratory tract. This lining helps to protect the lungs from infections. As mentioned earlier, Vitamin D also helps to strengthen immune defences. In the literature school children who took 1200 IU/day of vitamin D had 42% less episodes of Influenza A compared with children who took a placebo (3). UV rays from the sun are for the most part muted during the darker winter months, the most common time of the year for colds and flus statistically is from December through to March, this falls at the end of the winter. At this time of the year vitamin D levels are generally at their lowest.

Supplementing with Vitamin D

I recommend Supplementing with vitamin D3, this is the most easily absorbed source of vitamin D. You may also see cholecalciferol on the bottle which is just another name for vitamin D3.

Sources:

1 Annweiler C, Rolland Y, Schott AM, Blain H, Vellas B, Herrmann FR, Beauchet O. Higher vitamin D dietary intake is associated with lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease: a 7­year follow­up. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2012 Nov;67(11):1205­11. doi: 10.1093/gerona/gls107. Epub 2012 Apr 13. PMID:22503994.

2 Gerry K. Schwalfenberg. Solar Radiation and Vitamin D: Mitigating Environmental Factors in Autoimmune Disease. Journal of Environmental and Public Health. Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 619381, 9 pages.

3 Adit A. Ginde, MD, MPH; Jonathan M. Mansbach, MD; Carlos A. Camargo Jr, MD, DrPH. Association Between Serum 25­Hydroxyvitamin D Level and Upper Respiratory Tract Infection in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(4):384­390. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2008.560.