Why you should start taking Vitamin D now
Getting plenty of the ‘sunshine vitamin’ has never been so important! In fact, a recent study highlighted the fact that 1 in 3 people globally is vitamin D deficient – and Europeans are more at risk than North Americans! We manufacture Vitamin D in our skin from the suns rays yet most of us now spend our days indoors and slather on the suncream when out in the sun so we never really get chance to make it.
The surge of research in recent years has shown how Vitamin D plays crucial roles in
– bone health; osteoporosis, rickets
– heart health; high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke
– immunity 7 auto-immune conditions; colds, flu, chronic infections, Multiple Sclerosis
– mood balance & brain function; depression, Seasonal Affective Disorder, Alzheimer’s Disease
– regulating inflammation; arthritis, cardiovascular disease,
– fertility and pregnancy
The old UK RDA levels of 400iu per day are currently being reviewed and new, much higher levels considered. As Dr Janyne Althaus discusses, this is particularly important for pregnant Mums as the baby’s demand for vit D increases greatly in the later months of pregnancy when bone formation is taking place yet Mum is at risk of deficiency if her own Vitamin D stores are too low.
Now that we have passed the Autumn Equinox and the days are getting gradually shorter, the suns rays are no longer strong enough to give us the UVB rays needed for the manufacture of vitamin D in our skin. Supplementing with it throughout winter is therefore a sensible and safe option – if you don’t like swallowing capsules or pills, try one of the new vitamin D sprays that are available and take at least 1000iu per day.