VITAMIN D
There is still massive confusion out there, even among health care professionals, about what’s healthy and what’s not when it comes to sunlight and vitamin D. For instance, certain vitamin D supplements (vitamin D2) are highly inferior to vitamin D3, and should not be taken.
Diseases that vitamin D positively influences include:
Vitamin D can also strengthen bones and the immune system, provide pain relief, and prevent schizophrenia.
It's truly an amazing chemical; it's actually a hormone rather than, strictly speaking, a vitamin, and the most powerful hormone in your body at that, active in quantities as small as 1/1,000,000,000,000 of a gram.
Ideally, the best place to get vitamin D is from your skin being exposed to the UV-B that is in normal sunlight. Vitamin D from sunlight acts as a pro-hormone, rapidly converting into 25-hydroxyvitamin D, or vitamin D3.
Unfortunately, the amount of sun reaching most of the U.S. is only sufficient to generate a healthy vitamin D response for far less than half the year.
Most people don't live far enough south or high enough in the mountains to allow enough Ultraviolet (UV) -B to reach their skin. So, for those times of the year when access to the proper amount of sun is not possible, you will want to consider an oral form of vitamin D.
It is important to know that if you have sub-tropical or summer sun exposure on your skin it will be wise to avoid any oral vitamin D supplementation unless you regularly monitor your vitamin D blood level. However the vast majority of people in the U.S. cannot possibly receive enough UV-B to generate optimal levels of vitamin D from September to mid-April.
Please also remember that just because it is sunny and hot outside, it is absolutely not an indication of the amount of UV-B l present. If your latitude is above 30 degrees north or below 30 degrees south, you will likely benefit from vitamin D supplementation from September to mid-April.
FYI- Tulsa, OK (US): 36n09, 96w0, Oklahoma
Ask us about NuMedica's Vitamin D3 softgels or liquid drops