What Are The Benefits Of Vitamin D?
We all know Vitamin D is important to our well-being, but how often in our lives have we explored all the reasons it's so important? As 50-somethings, we remember that the milk in our breakfast cereal was fortified with vitamin D—and so were many of our breakfast cereals, for that matter—and that was good enough for us back then. As we get older and wiser, we do need to take extra steps to learn why certain vitamins and minerals are vital to healthy aging, and this is a big one.
Let's take some time to learn more about vitamin D, how you can get plenty of it, and all the good it does for your body.
What Is Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin within a family of other D compounds, including D-1, D-2, and D-3. Some people might not know that it is also a secosteroid that promotes calcium and phosphorous production and features a hormone-like activity, regulating the functions of more than 200 genes essential for growth and development. It impacts nearly every cell in the body and regulates the expression of your genes.
Since the D vitamin is fat-soluble, it travels easily throughout your body and is capable of permeating your cell membranes to bind to your vitamin D protein receptors. Its fat-solubility also allows it to stay in the body longer. However, even if your body wants to store your abundance of vitamin D, you need to regularly get plenty of sunlight and consume nutrient dense foods to maintain a fresh supply.
The body produces this essential vitamin when our bodies are exposed to direct sunlight; hence it is often affectionately referred to as the "sun vitamin" or the "sunshine vitamin." The process that occurs is a chemical reaction that happens when sunlight hits your skin, producing cholecalciferol. Your liver then joins the process and converts the cholecalciferol to calcidiol. Finally, your kidneys convert the substance to calcitriol, the active form of the hormone in your body.
While sunlight is the most important vitamin D source, there are several great foods you can consume too, which we will talk about a little later.
Why Is Vitamin D Called a Vitamin If It Is Not Actually a Vitamin?
Many people might not realize that vitamin D is actually a steroid unless they did some deep research or were part of the weightlifting community, which is why it wasn't uncommon to find bodybuilders sunbathing during the Golden Age of Bodybuilding. While you don't necessarily find bodybuilders lounging on the beach as frequently today, you still might note the bodybuilding community's use of artificial tanning methods to simulate the sunshine vitamin's benefits since vitamin D deficiency is a global problem for everyone, not just bodybuilders.
But wait, vitamin D is more than just a vitamin and more than just a steroid. It is also a hormone with progesterone-like activity in calcitriol, which is the active form of vitamin D. Your kidneys produce the D vitamin, which controls your blood calcium concentration and affects your immune system and is also known as ergocalciferol, calcidiol, and cholecalciferol. Calcidiol is the type of D vitamin upon which doctors regularly focus their attention when measuring the levels in your body.
Explore the Different Types of D Vitamins
As mentioned earlier, the body is brimming with different D vitamins that your body needs for various essential functions. Let's take a look at those.
Vitamin D1
Often simply referred to as vitamin D, vitamin D1 encompasses all the rest of the D vitamins needed for the healthy growth of bones and teeth, produced by UV irradiation sterols found in fish, milk, and eggs.
Vitamin D2
Derived from ergosterol and produced by plants, fungi, and invertebrates that create D2 with help from sunlight. Humans do not produce vitamin D2, which means that between D2 and D3, you should choose D3 since the human body can and does produce.
Vitamin D3
Also known as cholecalciferol, Vitamin D3 is fundamental in helping your body absorb calcium for strong bones and teeth. Made from 7-dehydrocholesterol in your skin, this type of D vitamin is made in humans and animals when exposed to direct sunlight. Considered more effective than ergocalciferol, cholecalciferol has the potency to significantly raise the vitamin D level in humans.
Vitamin D3 is the most important of the D vitamins since, on its own, it is pivotal for the following functions:
Supports healthy adrenal glands
Promotes healthy aging and extends longevity
Helps develop and protect your brain and nervous system
Regulates blood sugar levels and maintains a healthy pancreas
Aids digestion
Fosters bone health
Assists fertility
Maintains healthy hair follicles
Supports better hearing
Provides support for a healthy immune system
Keeps your heart healthy
Impacts your mental health including mood, behavior, mind, and memory
Improves sleep and often cures insomnia
Regulates your blood pressure
Improves your vision
Aids in muscle, nerve, and overall athletic performance
Helps metabolize fat and carbohydrates for improved weight loss and maintenance
As you can see, vitamin D3 offers a wealth of health benefits that go hand-in-hand with healthy aging and healthy living in general.
Vitamin D4
Vitamin D4 is also known as 22-dihydroergocalciferol, which is sometimes found in some mushrooms and is often used by physicians to treat special conditions such as tetany.
Vitamin D5
Vitamin D5, also known as 7-dihydrositosterol, was developed to curb the tendency of massive doses of D3 to result in toxic hypercalcemia in prostate cancer patients. Medical leaders wanted to find a way to continue this essential treatment that interrupts cancer cells' cycle and stimulates apoptosis, or the positive alteration of cells, without putting them at risk for D3 toxicity.
The Many Benefits of Getting Your Daily Intake of Vitamin D
Now that you have learned a little more about the various vitamins under the D umbrella, you probably already realize how vital vitamin D is for good health. It has multiple essential functions to keep your body strong and your mood steady. One of this vitamin's key roles involves regulating the absorption of calcium, so the dairy industry focuses on fortifying milk, and phosphorous. It is also fundamental in facilitating healthy immune system function and the normal growth and development of strong teeth and bones. Finally, vitamin D is instrumental in resisting certain diseases, including diabetes, osteoporosis, asthma, cardiovascular, influenza, and cancer.
Here is a breakdown of these benefits and more.
Vitamin D And Bone Health
One of the first things many of us learn at an early age is how important vitamin D is for strong bones and teeth. It's all true. According to the Journal of Nutrition, "Vitamin D plays an essential role in maintaining a healthy mineralized skeleton for most land vertebrates including humans." Sunlight sparks a process called photoproduction, which makes D3 in the skin. Once D3 fully develops, it metabolizes sequentially in the liver and kidneys to promote mineralization in the skeleton.
Most foods do not contain vitamin D and require fortification, which is often variable and unpredictable, so it is not ideal to solely count on foods as sources of D vitamins. As we age, we need to remain especially vigilant about getting plenty of vitamin D since deficiencies are increasingly recognized as a major cause of metabolic bone diseases in older adults. Low vitamin D levels also cause osteomalacia, or softening of the bones, and worsens osteoporosis.
Older adults might consider increasing calcium intake to 1,000-1,500mg/day and vitamin D supplements or foods rich in vitamin D to at least 400 IU/day to maintain good bone density and overall bone health.
Vitamin D And The Immune System
As we still face the coronavirus global pandemic for the foreseeable future, bolstered immune health is and should remain at the forefront of our health concerns. On December 31, 2020, CNet shared that studies suggest that vitamin D might help prevent respiratory infections and, at a minimum, reduce their severity. With that, some medical experts recommend that everyone, especially adults 50 and over, take vitamin D supplements to boost your immune system.
Vitamin D might play a significant role because it is one of two vitamins your body can produce on its own, the other being vitamin K, and that it is something you can easily boost with food or supplements. Do you remember that your D vitamin is also a hormone? This is where that comes in handy since it regulates how much calcium is present in your blood, improving immune function, and reducing inflammation.
A vitamin D deficiency can increase your susceptibility to infection, particularly self-reported upper respiratory tract infections. Even worse, if your body is running on low serum levels of vitamin D, you might also find that you are more susceptible to dangerous infections like tuberculosis, influenza, and viral infections that attack the upper respiratory tract.
One of the reasons the D vitamin is so vital to immune and respiratory health is that it helps activate T cells known as the "killer cells" in our bodies. These warrior cells detect and annihilate foreign pathogens, such as viruses.
With all that in mind, while you definitely need your vitamin D, it is still uncertain how effective it is in combating COVID-19. Experts recommend that you maintain healthy D vitamin levels while also following CDC and WHO guidelines for safety.
Vitamin D And Seasonal Affective Disorder
It is not unusual for people to power down in the wintertime, expressing in a lowered mood. To some degree, this is not unnatural to find the cold weather and a lack of sunlight reason enough to conserve energy for when everything bursts forth in spring. Of course, it is all more complex than that for those who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Psychology Today notes that, for some people, the change in seasons can result in severe mood disturbance and depressive symptoms that many people call "the wintertime blues." We better understand those wintertime blues today as SAD, which is increasingly associated with a Vitamin D deficiency.
See if any of the following symptoms ring true for you:
Depressed or down mood
Sleepiness
Trouble concentrating
Anxious
Lethargic
Fatigue
Irritable
Decreased libido
Craving carbohydrates and engaging in generally poor eating habits
Hyperphagia, which is an increased consumption of food overall
Weight gain
Suppose several of these symptoms seem familiar to you. In that case, you might want to make sure you do not have low levels of vitamin D. Medical experts hypothesize that a D vitamin deficiency does not act as a direct factor driving SAD. Still, since it functions as a mood regulative driver, it is likely the main factor in depressive and SAD conditions.
If you suffer from SAD, mood disorders or any other depression, you can fight it with a few strategies:
Invest in a therapy lamp for a daily dose of light therapy, also called phototherapy, which mimics natural sun exposure to help promote the production of vitamin D. The Cleveland Clinic suggests that 60-80% of people who try light therapy experience an improved mood.
Get moving with an exercise program. If you can bear the cold, push yourself to go outside for a brisk walk, jog, or hike. However, if you do not want to face the freezing temperatures and precariously icy ground, you can keep it indoors with activities like jogging on a treadmill, using a rowing machine or stationary bike, or doing a yoga routine.
Reach out to friends and family for social interaction. Since everyone moves all activities indoors during the winter, it seems like everyone keeps activities closer to home and self-isolates to varying degrees. If you are prone to SAD, the last thing you need is more isolation. Amid coronavirus concerns, you might need to take some extra caution in ensuring everyone is healthy. Even if you plan Zoom video conference calls a few days a week with a good friend or two, you can help stave off the winter blues with some good conversation and laughs.
As we get older, it is crucial to stay mindful of our moods to maintain good mental health.
Vitamin D and Weight Loss
Many of us feel like we could stand to drop a-few-to-20-pounds or so. Making sure we are getting plenty of vitamin D might help our cause. One study has shown that study subjects who took a daily vitamin D and calcium supplement lost more weight than those who took a placebo. The scientists concluded that the boosted D vitamin and calcium provided an appetite-suppressing effect.
Vitamin D and Heart Health
Johns Hopkins Medicine has cited studies indicating that D vitamin deficiency might serve as a risk factor for congestive heart failure, heart attacks, strokes, peripheral arterial disease (PAD), and other conditions associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.
The clinical trials are ongoing, but scientists find it helpful to identify another risk factor in this menu of heart-related diseases to assist in prevention. Therefore, along with the many other reasons to ensure optimal vitamin D, add this one to the list.
Vitamin D and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Many times, people living with rheumatoid arthritis end up taking steroids that deplete their natural stores of vitamin D, which can lead to soft and brittle bones, resulting in possible deformities, bone pain and bone fractures.
Switch Up Your Diet to Get the Perfect Amount of Vitamin D for Optimal Health
Besides fortification of cow's milk, nut milk products, and breakfast cereals, you probably also know that we get a healthy vitamin D dose through exposure to sunlight. Another essential way to get your daily recommended dose of D is through the foods you eat, including:
Chicken
Fatty fish like salmon or tuna
Dairy products
Fortified orange juice
Ham
Pork chops
Shitake mushrooms
Beef liver
Egg yolks
Turkey
These foods are optimal for anyone focused on eating healthy for 50 and over.
The amount of vitamin D you need each day depends on your age:
People from ages one through 70 years, including pregnant or breastfeeding women, need 600 IU (international units) daily
Anyone over age 70 needs 800 IU a day
Healthy Aging and Vitamin D
As we get older, we face age-related changes that impact D vitamin metabolism, increasing our requirement for this essential vitamin. If we become deficient, we might see decreased bone density, reduced calcium absorption, poor muscular health, inhibited mobility, and the risk for several health problems.
Do you know if you are getting enough vitamin D? With the help of your primary physician and an online health coach like the Mighty Health app, you can figure out your vitamin D needs and how to ensure you have enough to stay healthy, meet your fitness needs, and live a healthy and active lifestyle with friends and family.
