– Related Videos –
How to take Magnesium: https://youtu.be/MWP8vfzUsNk
How to take Calcium: https://youtu.be/9Ezm8GSFsic
Hair analysis to test for mineral deficiencies: https://youtu.be/9yCNQ0Oegck
– Links –
Courses & Coaching: http://nutritionandfitness.academy
Next to Vitamin C, Vitamin D is probably the most well known vitamin out there. It exists naturally in foods and in this video, I want to talk about what vitamin D is, its roles in the body and how to get enough of it, which means we will talk about vitamin D supplementation at the end of this video.
Let’s start by discussing what vitamin D is and why we need it.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin in a family of compounds that includes vitamins D1, D2, and D3. Unlike other vitamins, your body can actually produce vitamin D naturally when it’s directly exposed to sunlight. But of course, you can also get vitamin D from certain foods and supplements. The current RDA for adult men and women is 15 mcg or 600 IU per day. It has several important functions in the body, the most important of which are:
Regulating Calcium Absorption
Healthy Vitamin D activity is required to absorb calcium from the gut into the bloodstream. In this sense it is actually more of a hormone rather than a vitamin. Because active vitamin D not only helps to increase the amount of calcium your gut can absorb from eaten foods but it also prevents calcium loss from the kidneys. On top of that it is important for the formation of new bone both in children and adults.
Immune Function:
In addition to calcium regulation, research suggests that vitamin D may also plays a role in certain diseases of better the fight against them. For example, People with vitamin D deficiency appear to be at a higher risk of infections and autoimmune diseases. Also, low vitamin D levels have been linked to increased risk of certain heart diseases such as hypertension and heart disease. However, please be careful before taking vitamin D supplements for both your immune system and hypertension. I will talk about why later in the video.
Metal Wellbeing:
Lastly, vitamin D might also play a big role in regulating mood and decreasing the risk of depression. I mean, this should be fairly obvious as we all know how being in the sun can instantly boost your mood and will make you feel better. In turn, vitamin D deficiency has been linked to negative emotions and even anxiety or depression.
Before I get to the big and complex top of vitamin D supplementation, let’s first discuss the best natural vitamin D sources and foods. Like I said before, your skin can actually produce it. This happens when the sun’s ultraviolet B (UVB) rays interact with a protein called 7-DHC in the skin, converting it into vitamin D. The lighter your skin, the more sensitive it will be to these UVB rays, which is just a natural adaption to the climate around us, as people with lighter skin tend to live in colder climates with less sun light.
Of course, you can also get vitamin d from foods. Here the best sources are: animal liver, fatty fish, fish and cod liver oils as well as egg yolk. Fortified dairy products are also often listed as good source however Im not a big fan of those but that’s a topic for another video.
Ok, on to the last part of this video, vitamin D supplementation. Over the last few years vitamin D has become one of the most popular supplements out there. It has gone so far that websites and books have been created just about this one nutrient. Unfortunately, there is also a lot of misinformation and hype going on, which leads me to say that vitamin D is probably the most misunderstood nutrient / hormone out there and most people should actually avoid it as a supplement. I know this is probably not what you were expecting to hear and different from what I said in older videos. But please hear me out. My issue with most vitamin d supplements can really be summarizes within two sentences:
1. Most people don’t know or understand the influence of vitamin D on other nutrients
And / or
2. They assume natural vitamin and vitamin D supplements are the same thing, when they aren’t.
Let’s talk about each issue seperatly. First, the influence of vitamin D has on other nutrients. As you know from my videos, no nutrient should be view in isolation but instead always together with its synergists and antagonists and cofactors, so all the nutrients it influences
In the case of vitamin D, there a bunch of nutrient interactions that we need to look at:
– First, it depletes vitamin a because they are direct antagonists in the liver. The more you stop of one the less you have of the other. Many people, especially people who eat little to no animal protein already have low bioactive vitamin A in their bodies. Taking supplemental vitamin D will only further increase this deficiency.
