28Apr/11Off
How exactly does vitamin d work?
Does your body make vitamin d out of nowhere when you spend time in the sun? Or does your body process vitamin d you ingested when in the sun? If you ingest more vitamin d than your body needs does your body excrete it through urine like water soluble vitamins or is it like vitamin A where you can actually cause yourself harm from too much? Thanks for the answers my Google searches weren't answering these.
April 28th, 2011 - 07:43
Vitamin D3 is an oil soluble steroid hormone. It’s formed when your skin is exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation from the sun. When UVB strikes the surface of your skin, your skin converts a cholesterol derivative in your skin into vitamin D3.
However, the vitamin D3 that is formed is on the surface of your skin does not immediately penetrate into your bloodstream. It actually needs to be absorbed from the surface of your skin into your bloodstream.
New evidence shows it takes up to 48 hours before you absorb the majority of the vitamin D that was generated by exposing your skin to the sun! If you shower with soap, you will simply wash away much of the vitamin D3 your skin generated, & decrease the benefits of your sun exposure. So to optimize your vitamin D level, you need to delay washing your body with soap for about two full days after sun exposure.
Now not many people are not going to bathe for two full days.
As of this date no one has ever tested whether vitamin D is formed in human sebum, the fat that your skin produces. The only study that support that vitamin D3 is formed in the dermal epidermal junction was done in humans were the sebum was removed from the skin.
However, this has been extensively tested in animals and that is precisely where the vitamin D3 is formed. In fact that is where most of the oral vitamin D3 in supplements comes from, lanolin and the sebum like material in the skin of sheep and cows
Additionally you can rub vitamin D3 on your skin and it easily penetrates into your bloodstream (assuming you don’t wash it off for 48 hours).
Vitamin D3 is formed from exposure to UVB rays, whereas UVA radiation actually destroys vitamin D. Window glass will effectively filter out the majority of UVB radiation, but it minimally filters out UVAs. This helps keep your body in balance; it’s one of the protective mechanisms your body has to avoid overdosing on vitamin D when you’re outside. However, when you’re exposed to sunlight through windows — in your office, your home or your car — you get the UVA but virtually none of the beneficial UVB.
UVA is one of the primary culprits behind skin cancer, and it increases photo aging of your skin. It’s also what causes you to tan. You can actually get vitamin D without significantly darkening your skin, because the UVB wavelength does not stimulate the melanin pigment to produce a tan.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/05/12/Shocking-Update-Sunshine-Can-Actually-Decrease-Your-Vitamin-D-Levels.aspx
Vitamin D is stored in the body, most parts of North America don’t have access to UVB rays 6 months of the year & full stores are required to make it through winter.
Vitamin D3 is not a vitamin at all but a necessary hormone that effects the immune system, bones & nearly every aspect of health. Having low Vitamin D levels greatly increases risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, MS & being deficient can create or greatly exacerbate health problems. Many researchers claim that optimized vitamin D levels are more effective than a flu shot in preventing viral infections.
With Vitamin D3 deficiency becoming an epidemic, it is possible that upper atmosphere pollution is blocking the needed UVB light from the sun. In northern latitudes (above that of Atlanta, Georgia) the sun is at too low an angle for half the year to provide sufficient UV radiation. If even available, UVB rays are only accessible while the sun is directly overhead. Most people need to take vitamin D, especially seniors, as the ability to synthesize vitamin D in the skin declines with age.
With exposure to sunlight in the summer, the body can generate 20,000 IU of vitamin D per hour with no ill effects. In addition, no adverse effects have been seen with supplemental vitamin D intakes up to 10,000 IU daily.
Always take your vitamin D with a fat-containing meal to ensure absorption.
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400676/More-Vitamin-D.html
The prescription vitamin D supplements are the wrong type (ergocalciferol ). As warned by the National Institute of Health.
Luckily you can buy vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) over the counter and the upper limits are extremely high. U.S. RDA are much too low. Current recommendations from researchers are for 35iu per pound – a 150# person needs minimum of 5250iu per day & the rda is 400iu. This amount is for minimal needs and does not include depleted stores.
April 28th, 2011 - 07:43
Vitamin D, after travelling to the liver undergoes a chemical change then moves through the bloodstream to the kidneys, where it changes again to become an active form of the vitamin. This active form known as dihydroxy vitamin D assists the body in its absorption of calcium and phosphorus and transports these into bone tissue. Without this assistance we can be sure to fall prone to several deficiencies and some that lead to osteoporosis. You can take all the calcium tablets you like, but very little will be absorbed without vitamin D. Vitamin D is more of a hormone than it is a vitamin. It is made essentially from cholesterol and sunlight. Vitamin D has also been linked to the prevention of polyps and cancer of the colon and rectum.
April 28th, 2011 - 07:43
it is just after C.