An essential nutrient to maintain healthy bones
We can’t produce most of the so-called “vitamins” such as vitamins A and C in our bodies. So we must take them from external sources such as meals.
We take vitamin D from foods, too. For example, from fish, egg yolks, and mushrooms such as dried shiitake and cloud ear mushrooms.
However, we can also produce it in our bodies when exposed to sunlight. Therefore, vitamin D is also known as the “sunshine vitamin.” Here comes the sun, Vitamin D!
The intaken and produced Vitamin D is metabolized in the liver and kidneys and converted to the active form of vitamin D, which exerts its effects.
Health benefits
Its effect is calcium metabolism and action on bone. Active vitamin D helps absorb calcium, which is a material for bones, and when calcium intake is insufficient, it works to reabsorb calcium from urine. It also regulates calcium deposition in bones and promotes bone formation. Calcium comes first when we think of nutrients essential for bone health. But calcium is used efficiently with the help of vitamin D.
In recent years, there has been growing interest in other benefits, such as preventing flu by increasing immunity, preventing falls, strengthening muscles, and preventing cancer and allergic diseases like hay fever.
You need sunbathing
Vitamin D is produced by the body when exposed to sunlight
Subcutaneous fat under our skin contains a type of cholesterol, which is the source of vitamin D. When this cholesterol is exposed to UV light, a chemical reaction occurs to produce vitamin D.
Prolonged vitamin D deficiency can lead to rickets (osteomalacia in adults). It’s a condition in which the bones become soft due to a lack of calcium, which constitutes the bones. We used to think of it as a disease in the past, but rickets has become a problem in recent years due to malnutrition and lack of sun exposure in some infants.
The negative aspects of ultraviolet rays, such as skin troubles like spots, wrinkles, and skin cancer, are often emphasized too much, but sunbathing is essential to maintain strong bones.
Let’s take sunbathing and increase your vitamin D
Like calcium, vitamin D is a nutrient that tends to be deficient. Especially in the elderly, the ability to create and activate vitamin D in the skin tends to decline. Changes in her lifestyle, such as eating less food, going out less often, and getting less exposure to the sun, can also make her vitamin D deficient.
Also, even if you are young, people who always wear sunscreen, hats, parasols, etc., should take precautions against UV rays. The amount of vitamin D produced in the skin through exposure to sunlight is greater than the amount obtained through food intake. So, a lifestyle that avoids exposure to ultraviolet rays to the extreme can lead to vitamin D deficiency.
To supplement vitamin D, try to spend about 1 hour in winter and 30 minutes in the shade of a tree in summer. When you sunbathe, your brain will secrete a substance called “serotonin.” It will provide you stress relief, concentration improvement, and brighter feeling. Stay active in the sun to keep your bones healthy.
Here comes the sun, Vitamin D!!
You can also take vitamin D through supplements.
Juveriente’s Bone Strength Complex will provide you vitamin D among its vitamin set for bone health while it also helps your bone health from the cellular level. (Learn about it more here.)
