D

Vitamin D

A hormone produced by the body when skin is exposed to UVB rays from the sun.

Vitamin D

A unique vitamin that most people don’t get enough of.

What is Vitamin D?

There’s good reason why vitamin D is called “the sunshine vitamin.” When your skin is exposed to sunlight, it makes vitamin D from cholesterol. Vitamin D has many roles in the body and is essential for optimal health.

Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption in the gut and maintains adequate serum calcium and phosphate concentrations to enable normal bone mineralization and to prevent hypocalcemic tetany (involuntary contraction of muscles, leading to cramps and spasms).

Health Benefits

Vitamin D regulates mood and reduces depression.

Vitamin D supports weight loss.

Vitamin D fights disease: In addition to its primary benefits, research suggests that vitamin D may also play a role in:

Moving muscles, and carrying messages between your brain and your body.
Decreasing the chance of heart disease.
Reducing the likelihood of severe illnesses, makes severe flu and COVID-19 infections less likely.
Supporting immune health. People who do not have adequate vitamin D levels might be at increased risk of infections and autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Why is Vitamin D important?

Adequate vitamin D is central to a strong skeleton. With time, even slight shortfalls in vitamin D may impact bone strength, as insufficient vitamin D forces your body to withdraw calcium from bones in order to maintain balance in the body. Several conditions affecting bone health may occur, including rickets, which affects infants and children and is characterized by improper bone development. Adults may develop osteomalacia or “adult rickets,” which causes bone and muscle pain; or osteoporosis, which is marked by the thinning of bones and loss of bone density, increasing the risk of fracture.