8 Benefits of Vitamin D
Why You Need Vitamin D
While there are five different kinds of vitamin D – D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5 – the only one our bodies need and use to function properly is vitamin D3, also known simply as vitamin D. Vitamin D is one of the most essential vitamins on the planet when it comes to warding off the many chronic diseases that plague our modern times.
It’s more than just a vitamin. It’s also a hormone precursor and immune modulator, and one of the few vitamins that your body can make all by itself. (Although it does need sunshine to activate the vitamin within your body and make it do all the things it’s meant to do.)
But the fact of the matter is – most of us are deficient in the vitamin, which leads to a wide array of scary health problems – including cancer. Here are some of the most important reasons you should start supplementing with vitamin D and getting enough sun exposure as soon as possible.
Immune Support
When we aren’t vitamin D deficient, like so many of us are, we can actually fight off infections like influenza and experience less cold and flus throughout our lives. Our immunity stays in tip top shape when our bodies have enough vitamin D, and the wonder vitamin is even being discussed as a healthy alternative to flu vaccinations.
Why is this so? Because vitamin D is directly involved in the production of T-cells – the ones that protect you from unwanted bacteria and disease processes.
Cancer Prevention
Vitamin D deficiency is directly related to the horrific rise of cancer rates in our society. Mortality rates from this deadly disease continue to rise, as do cases of low vitamin D levels. In fact, current research is telling us that 75% of all cancers are prevented when vitamin D levels are sufficient.
Therefore, its stands to reason that one of the most effective safeguards against cancer is to have your vitamin D levels checked and then make sure you maintain them in an optimal way. Not too mention, you probably need more than you think – up to ten times more than the present day recommended RDA is what many health experts agree upon.
Autoimmune Disease Defense
Autoimmune diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, muscular dystrophy, fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid arthritis are all linked to low levels of vitamin D.
Vitamin D is more than just a vitamin, it’s also what’s known as an immune modulator, you’ll need adequate amounts to prevent these autoimmune disease processes from taking hold.
Bone Health
Vitamin D plays a really important role in your calcium and phosphate levels – the ones that keep your bones strong and free of degeneration.
Calcium won’t get absorbed properly by your body if it doesn’t have enough vitamin D first, which means in order for bone mineralization to occur, you need enough vitamin D.
Bone mineralization is responsible for keeping your bones strong and healthy and pain-free.
DNA Repair
Our DNA is adversely affected by free radicals and oxidation – the kind that occurs to everyone breathing and eating on this planet today.
Thankfully, vitamin D has been shown to help repair the body’s DNA, thereby upgrading the hundreds of genes that take part in your metabolic processes every, single day.
Heart Disease Prevention
All cardiovascular diseases, including heart attack, stroke, artherosclerosis, and high blood pressure are linked to a huge lack of vitamin D. Studies have shown that this crucial vitamin is necessary for the prevention of all cardiovascular diseases – especially heart attack.
Other studies have even shown that if you happen to suffer from a heart attack while being dangerously low in vitamin D, your chances of dying from that heart attack increases by 100%.
Anti-Inflamatory
If you don’t have enough vitamin D you’re at a greater risk for diseases of inflammation – which are pretty much all diseases these days. People who suffer from chronic inflammatory diseases like diabetes and coronary heart disease are also dangerously low in vitamin D.
You need adequate amounts of vitamin D because it reduces something called C-Reactive Protein, also known simply as CRP. This protein is highly responsible for inflammation and any efforts to decrease this protein in the body also decreases your chances of suffering from deadly inflammatory conditions like diabetes and heart disease.
Weight Loss
Some research has shown that having the right amounts of vitamin D can actually promote weight loss. Deficiency of this vitamin has been proven to be directly linked to obesity, which means that optimizing your vitamin D levels could also help you lose weight.
Of course, along with vitamin D supplementation, you need to exercise regularly, keep stress levels to a minimum, get good sleep, and eat whole foods that are mainly plant-based.
How to get vitamin D?
You can get a fair amount of this wondrous vitamin from food. Free-range eggs, fortified cereals and milk, wild-caught fatty fish like salmon, tuna and mackerel, and organic grass-fed meat, all provide vitamin D in whole food form. Of course, the most natural way to ensure you have optimal vitamin D levels is through sun exposure.
Make sure you get enough sun up until the point before you burn. This means adequate amounts of sun exposure will vary for everyone – depending upon skin color. If you take vitamin D supplements orally, you’ll also want to supplement with vitamin K2 as well as magnesium because the three need each other for proper absorption and function.
Most doctors these days recommend taking between 2,000 and 3,000 units of vitamin D daily, and some even take more themselves.
Because the body loses its ability to produce vitamin D with age, supplementation is especially necessary for senior citizens. However, everyone can benefit from vitamin D supplementation – especially during the cold, dark winter months.
