What is Vitamin D?
It's the Sunshine Vitamin
The most scientific answer to the question, "What is Vitamin D?" can be found at Wikipedia. I suppose if you are a
microbiologist you will read with pleasure.
For the rest of us the easy answer to the question, "What is Vitamin D?" is simply that it is the "sunshine
vitamin."
So far, about 5 forms of Vitamin D have been discovered and they are aptly named Vitamin D1 through D5. Vitamin D3
is the one most of us are interested in and it is produced in the skin upon exposure to UVB ultraviolet light at
wavelengths between 270 and 300 nm.
Without question Vitamin D has been totally overlooked by conventional wisdom as a solution to many health problems
experienced by all us. And even when the benefits of Vitamin D are acknowledged the dosage recommendations are so
small as to not even register on most tests.
Imagine for a moment that the answer to the question of "What is Vitamin D?" was this? Vitamin D3 is a single
vitamin pill that may vanquish cancer and heart disease, the two leading causes of mortality in the U.S., as well
as quell autoimmune disease (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus), diminish the occurrence of diabetes, reduce obesity, and
effectively treat multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and high blood pressure,
plus conquer the common cold and even defeat tuberculosis, an infectious lung disease that affects one-third of the
people of the world.
In the opinion of many researchers Vitamin D has
been completely mis-characterized and thoroughly under prescribed for many years. For example the dosage in most
multi-vitamins is around 400 I.U.and it is a fact that a person standing in swim trunks in Florida on a summer day
at noon will generate this amount in about 3 minutes. Standing in that sun for 1 hour will produce about 10,000
I.U. And doesn't it feel great to play in the sun for a few hours everyday?
Reinhold Vieth PhD, researcher at the University of Toronto, notes that blood levels
don't even measurably rise till 4000 IU (100 micrograms) is consumed and toxicity begins at 40,000 IU (1000
micrograms or 1 milligram) and only after many weeks of use.
The evidence for the benefits of Vitamin D are pouring in. William B Grant PhD of the
Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center in San Francisco, says there is compelling evidence that low vitamin
D levels lead to increased risk of rickets (soft bones), osteoporosis (loss of bone), 16 cancers (including
prostate, breast, colon, ovary, Hodgkin's lymphoma), as well as psoriasis, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart
disease, multiple sclerosis and susceptibility to tuberculosis. [Journal Cosmetic Dermatology 2: 86-98,
2003]
Armin Zittermann, PhD, of the Northrhine Westfalia Heart Center in Germany points to
a study conducted in Japan where adequate vitamin D levels achieved via supplementation reduced the death risk from
cardiovascular disease by 70% compared to those who did not use vitamin D supplements. [Current Opinion Lipidology
18: 41-46, Feb. 2007]
In February of 2006 a research team led by Cedric F. Garland of the University of
California at San Diego, reported that vitamin D supplementation would reduce the occurrence of a wide variety of
cancers by 30-50%. [American Journal Public Health 96: 252-61, 2006]
It is estimated that 50,000-63,000 individuals in the United States, and
19,000-25,000 in Great Britain, die prematurely from cancer annually due to insufficient vitamin D. [Photochemistry
Photobiology 81: 1276-86, 2005]
Some researchers even recommend 50,000 I.U. per day for 3 days upon the onset of the
common cold or flu with many reports of the common cold or flu being humbled by this approach.
Of course, you are not going to take my word for it. I am just an article writer. But
I do consume Vitamin D3 at a rate of 5000 I.U. per day and have for many years and I am sixty and never felt
better. Do your homework and avoid most of the conventional wisdom.
What is Vitamin D?
Without a doubt, in my mind, in sufficient quanities taken only a daily basis it is
probably the most important vitamin supplement one can take.
by Ron Wayne - January 11, 2011
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