If you’ve been following your doctor’s advice to the ‘T,’ you’ve probably been really careful when it comes to sun exposure. Using sunscreen and covering yourself up when needed.
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After all, isn’t the sun causing major cancers?
Well, too much sun exposure and especially sunburn may be contributing factors to skin cancer, but by protecting yourself too much from the sun you may be depriving yourself of one of the most important vitamins we need… vitamin D.
What’s unique about vitamin D is that it’s very rare in most kind of food. It’s high in some types of fish but only found in low doses in other kinds of diets.
Your body does, however, produce it from sunlight without any diet or supplement consumption…making it the cheapest vitamin on earth.
Using strong sunscreen, as recommended by many doctors, can block 99% of vitamin D production by the body. And this, in addition to reduced outside activities, is causing major health problems all over the world.
According to a study made by University of Aberdeen, up to 65% of women in the UK were vitamin D-deprived over the winter months and an astonishing 50% were even in the summer months.
Whereas it’s understandable that the UK population may be lacking the sunlight to produce enough vitamin D, this doesn’t explain study results published in the March 2010 Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism saying that 59% of young women living in sunny California had too little vitamin D in their blood. Overuse of sunscreen does, however, ring a bell.
If Californians are lacking vitamin D, then the rest of us better watch out.
This is a huge issue since vitamin D deprivation has been proven to cause or attribute to pretty much every developing disease on earth. Including:
– High Blood Pressure
– Type 2 Diabetes
– Cancer
– Arthritis
– Obesity
– Bone weakness
… and more and more!
A recent study from the University of Kansas, for example, found a strong connection between lack of vitamin D and pretty much all cardiovascular diseases; including high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke and high cholesterol. Giving people a vitamin D supplement significantly improved those conditions.
Researchers at Tufts University discovered that people with low levels of vitamin D were 57% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to several cancers such as colon, breast, prostate, and pancreatic cancers, just to name a few examples.
The sunshine vitamin is also essential for the immune system, especially for producing T cells. It’s therefore safe to assume that missing out on vitamin D will seriously inhibit the body’s chance to fight pretty much all diseases.
Vitamin D helps reduce inflammation, especially chronic inflammation, and that’s probably one of the main reason why lacking this vitamin seems to make arthritis, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and other inflammation diseases worse.
Finally, one of the main functions of vitamin D is to help various cells, such as muscle and bone cells absorb calcium. Throughout the years people (especially women) have been told to consume enough calcium to prevent bone weakness. This is totally useless if you’re lacking vitamin D. The cells can’t absorb the calcium anyways and it just goes to waste.
One major sign that you are vitamin D deficient is if you experience frequent muscle soreness or fatigue. This means your muscles are not getting enough calcium.
But enough of the problem, what’s the solution?
Obviously, it’s to get enough vitamin D. And it’s not that complicated, especially if you live in a semi-sunny place. Only 20 minutes of 25% skin exposure on a sunny day is enough for most people. Dark-skinned people may, however, need a little more.
If you’re concerned about skin cancer, remember that the recommendation is to manage sun exposure, not to totally eliminate it. Even in places where the UV level is very high, 10-15 minutes, two to three times a day without sunscreen is no problem.
In fact, more than 20 minutes at the time may not result in any more vitamin D. When the skin begins to turn red, it’s naturally protecting itself from the UV rays and won’t absorb the vitamin D as before.
It’s complicated to get enough vitamin D from food. It’s mostly found in fatty fish and egg yolks. Several types of food, especially milk products, are often vitamin D fortified. Fortified milk commonly contains 2.5 ?g (100 IU) vitamin D per cup.
Finally, we have vitamin D supplements. This is only an alternative if you can’t possibly get enough vitamin D from sun exposure. That’s the natural way for the body to absorb this vitamin and probably the most effective. Supplements should always be used as safety net but not to replace natural methods such as diet and sunlight.
Which brings us to the next question…
How Much Vitamin D Do I Need?
An absolute minimum should be 5 ?g (=200 IU) per day. As you age, you should at least double this amount at fifty and triple it at seventy.
Note that these are minimum numbers. You can safely consume as much as 50 ?g (2,000 IU) without any problems (that’s 20 cups of fortified milk).
You can learn more about conditions affected by vitamin D deficiency by visiting the links on the side bar of this page. Including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis.
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Great article on how we need the sun shine to help us with our vitamin D!
Dear Christian, I was very interested to see this article because I firmly believe that nature is best for us if used in the right way. I sometimes write little poems and last Spring I wrote one mentioning Vitamin D. I put it on Facebook titled.
Anyon feeling sad.
Hope you like it.
Good morning everyone, hope you are well, I`m fine, let me tell you why.
I woke up this morning feeling glum, then I looked outside and saw the sun.
Suddenly I was filled with glee, I could sit outside and get Vitamin D.
So I sat outside with my fruit and porridge soaking up the sun, which will help me with my chores before the day is done.
Then looking at what nature can bring, "Oh look" the first signs of Spring.
Snowdrops standing White and tall, so get out there and enjoy it all.
There are so many things in the garden which are good for us. As a child I used to go around the fields picking and eating Hawthorn leaves amongst other things and who needs duretics when there are Dandelions growing outside , just put them with your salads and they will help with fluid retention , unfortunately we have interferred with nature too much instead of embracing it. I hate injections unless they are essential I think anti biotics from the doctor kills our good jerms as well as the bad (not a good idea ) also it interferes with our own imune system. I must stop now I could go on all day LOL.
Hope I haven`t bored you.
Dee
I think I read this article before and started taking about 1000iu per day. It is one of a few changes I have made recently. No direct link, but I have felt more alive than before.
I like it, I live in Africa where we have a lot of sun. `am going to make use of the sun to get the vitamin D. Thank you
That sun scare is full of malarky..God made all of this and I use it to the Max not worrying about getting cancer..If we did it all God's way.. we'd have no doctors or hospital's hardly..Amen.
I am giving away free samples of Gourmet Black, Gourmet Mocha, Gourmet Latte, Gourmet Hot Chocolate and Organic Green Tea – probably the best in the world. Just let me know which you drink and your address and I will post some out to you.
I BELIVE IN VITAMIN D FOR SURE , TOOK IN CALCIUM FOR YEARS , THEN CAME OF IT ,,{NOT A GOOD THING }, SUNSHINE GIVES US THE D , BUT WHAT HAPPEN WHEN YOU ARE ALLERGY TO THE SUN?, I KNOW WHEN I SEE A SUNNY DAY IT LIFTS ME UP ,{ALIVE LIKE }.
MAKE SURE YOU GET THE SUN LIGHT IN SMALL NUMBER EVERY DAY KEEPS YOU WELL AND HAPPY,, VITAMIN D VERY INPORTAIN FOR YOU
I take this Nutrition for my Stem Cells and it stopped my Arthritis and Heart doctors told me that after I had 4 Heart attacks with NO Heart Dammage that takeing it saved my life and to keep taking it. 97% of the Blood to my heart was blocked off was what caused my Heart attacks. www. strongerhealthwealth. com
i will be 84 feb.2 ihave been a sun nut all my life layed out in the sun b years had many sun burns never heard of cancer till of late and i take vit. d just the laST FEW YEARS AND NO DRUGS ONLY FOR THROID, AND I JUST PASSED MY STRESS TEST I AM A HEALTH NUT. LOVE YOU ALL VIRGINIA BEEN WITH ANN WIGMORE, HANNA KOEGER B. JENSEN
Very interesting Dee. Feel free to write more whenever you feel the urge. 😉
Wendy Lewis
Wendy Lewis Thanks Wendy. xxx
Some research says 600IUs in multi-vitamins is not even a start – antiquated requirement from past…
So also, it is OK to get 5 – 20,000 IUs – the sun provides 10,000 IUs naturally but also a 24 hr. period of conversion into D3 before showers/bathing!
I have to rely on vitamin D supplements, I live in Rochester, NY where the sun rarely shines. I notice how much better I feel since I've been taking the supplements. I take 2000 IU a day.
M. Baron 1-2-17 Kojirakawa
Yamagata, Japan 990-0021
LOVE to have some, want to try them ALL
– Thanks!
sincerely request everyone wanting to use the sunlight to check –
http://www.uvawareness.com/uv-index/uv-forecasts.php
for the sun’s ultra-violet rays ‘safe levels’. (it is my homepage!). take care and get well soon.
regards, ricky.
Posted from UK today. Please let me know when they arrive. PS Skype platinumgeorgeprall