As we are now past the autumnal equinox and inexorably heading into the dark days of winter, I thought I would take a look at vitamin D, otherwise known as the ‘sunshine vitamin’. .
Vitamin D deficiency?
There’s always a lot of press on vitamin D at this time of year, as our main source of vitamin D, the sun, starts to lose its potency here in the UK. Vitamin D is synthesized when we expose our skin to the correct wavelength of UV light – the one most easily found in the sun. But the waning power of the sun’s rays here in the northern hemisphere means our bodies simply can’t produce vitamin D from September to late March/early April. If we are lucky enough to have a surplus, our body can only store it for a maximum of two months.
And that’s without taking into account that other mitigating factors (including, presumably, rather disappointing summers like those we often experience in the UK) are taken into account. These include modern lifestyles, such as wearing clothes, working indoors and using sunscreen, all of which prevent us from synthesizing vitamin D. All of this means that it is estimated that around a quarter to a third of all adults in the UK are vitamin D deficient. On top of this, older skin is less efficient at producing vitamin D, so it’s important that us middle-aged people get it let’s pay attention.
Vitamin D for peri-menopausal women
Postmenopausal women in particular need to keep their vitamin D levels high. Because estrogen plays a key role in protecting and maintaining bone density, women at this stage of life are particularly affected by a potential loss of bone strength. estrogen levels decrease. Decreased bone strength can lead to conditions such as osteopenia (lack of bone density) and resulting osteoporosis, which leads to an increased risk of bone fracture. Later in life, osteoporosis is indirectly responsible for more female deaths than breast cancer. It is therefore clearly useful to do everything possible to prevent it.
Vitamin D comes into play because it plays a vital role in maintaining the health of our bones, helping bones absorb calcium to grow new bone tissue. The natural decline in protective estrogen from perimenopause means that bones begin to break down at a faster rate than they can be rebuilt, but maintaining optimal vitamin D levels will minimize this loss of bone density.
More Benefits of Vitamin D
The benefits of vitamin D don’t stop there. And not just for women. Much research indicates that it provides many other health benefits, including strengthening the immune system, preventing various cancers, protecting against multiple sclerosis and heart disease, and preventing rheumatoid arthritis. Many believe that researchers believe that vitamin D is essential for healthy brain function, and studies also suggest that it may play an important role in regulating mood and preventing anxiety and depression.
So it’s worth making sure we all get enough.
Without sunlight, how do we get vitamin D?
Although our bodies make vitamin D more efficiently from sunlight, you can get vitamin D from a small number of foods, including fatty fish (like herring, mackerel, and wild salmon), red meat, liver and egg yolks. The skin of mushrooms synthesizes vitamin D in the same way as humans, so you can get vitamin D from mushrooms. Public Health England recommends that everyone over the age of one should consume around 400 IU (10 micrograms) of vitamin D every day to stay healthy. Since that’s the equivalent of a fillet of salmon or 10 egg yolks, now might be a good time to either stock up on these groceries or consider taking a supplement to get you through the months of winter.
(You might consider a nice winter vacation to the Caribbean, but I can safely guarantee that won’t happen to anyone in my house this year. Or any year in the foreseeable future for that matter.)
Vitamin D supplements
If you decide to take a supplement, vitamin D3 (as opposed to D2) is the best type of supplement to take (vegetarians, please note that it is difficult to find vegetarian ones as vitamin D3 is primarily found in animal products) and it is available. in tablet and spray form, the latter apparently being easier to metabolize. It’s also important to note that vitamin K2 is best taken with D3 – these are often found together in the same supplement. While D3 increases calcium levels in the blood, K2 keeps calcium out of artery walls and soft tissues and directs it to the bones instead.
There is also anecdotal evidence to suggest that taking a dose in the morning promotes better sleep than taking it in the evening. Vitamin D levels are inversely related to melatonin levels which control your circadian rhythms. So it makes sense that taking it at night could disrupt your sleep.
And just as you need to be careful not to burn yourself, as always, you need to be careful with supplements – even if you have to work hard to overdose on vitamin D. A daily intake ranging from 40,000 to 100,000 IU (1,000 to 2,500 micrograms), for one to several months, has been shown to be toxic in humans. Even a math nerd like me can figure out that’s a hundred times the recommended dose. Every day.
Conclusion
Blood tests to check your vitamin D levels are pretty simple, but it seems most of us, especially postmenopausal women, could benefit from extra sunshine (or rather lack thereof) during the months of ‘winter. Plus, considering that as we age, the skin becomes less efficient at synthesizing vitamin D, taking a supplement seems like a no-brainer to me. Implementing one simple thing that can have such a beneficial impact on your long-term health – I mean, why wouldn’t you?
Do you take a vitamin D supplement? It’s so important. Please feel free to share this information with anyone you think might find it useful.