How to Get More “Sunshine” in Your Diet

In case you haven’t noticed, vitamin D is one of the hottest supplements on the market these days. Every magazine, newspaper article and internet health site has information about this vitamin. Long known as the “sunshine vitamin”, vitamin D isn’t an actual vitamin. We now know that vitamin D is really more of a hormone than a vitamin. It’s effects in the body are wide-spread and more of us may be deficient than we ever thought before.

Vitamin D was discovered 87 years ago by a team of scientists at Johns Hopkins University who cured mice with rickets (weak and bent leg bones) by feeding them cod liver oil. Oily fish like sardines today remain one of the few natural food sources of vitamin D.

It was later found that certain wavelengths of ultraviolet light prompt our bodies to synthesize vitamin D, eventually making a hormone called calcitriol that, among other things, controls how the body uses calcium and mineralizes bone.

Once this was understood, vitamin D was produced synthetically and foods, mainly milk, were fortified with it. An eight-ounce glass of milk contains about 100 International Units (IUs) of vitamin D. 

Unlike most other nutrients, there is no “Recommended Daily Allowance” or RDA, for vitamin D. Instead, the Department of Agriculture uses a measure called “Adequate Intake Value” based on what’s needed to keep bones healthy. The adequate intake value for people up to age 50 has been set at 200 IUs per day, (a typical daily multivitamin pill contains 400 IUs), but most experts now agree that while this may prevent rickets, the amounts should be raised. Last year, for example, the American Academy of Pediatrics doubled its recommendation for children, including infants, to 400 IUs

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Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to health issues such as bone loss, rickets, depression, inflammation, autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular disease and even colon cancer. Exactly how it is involved remains somewhat a mystery.

However, the science of genetics is now beginning to reveal more clues about how vitamin D interacts with our genes to either create health or disease if our genes don’t promote healthy vitamin D utilization. In addition, we now know that a form of vitamin K called K2 is necessary to actually help shunt vitamin D to the bones for its effect in that organ system of the body. It may also help vitamin D perform its magic in the nervous system, heart, lungs, stomach, kidneys and cartilage.  Although the exact mechanism of its action has not been determined, K2 appears to interact with another protein that functions as a cellular growth regulator. This means it is involved in cell adhesion and cell proliferation.

While recommended doses of the vitamin are still unclear, doses of up to 5,000 IUs daily have been deemed safe. As our environment has urbanized and we spend less time in the sun as well as more time wearing sunscreen for skin cancer prevention, many of us may not be getting enough of this vital hormone. Including sardines in your daily diet is probably not for everyone and the amount of milk being consumed in adults continues to drop. So the reality is that everyone could benefit from a daily dose of vitamin D.

Whether in a pill form or isotonic formulation, consider adding vitamin D to your overall health regimen. If you have known issues around bone health, inflammation or cardiac issues, you should definitely confer with your physician about the added benefits of vitamin D supplementation. And most of all, consider buying a vitamin D supplement that contains vitamin K2. This vitamin allows your body to absorb vitamin D and shunt it directly to the vital areas of the body for maximum benefit. In addition, it prevents vitamin D from being stored in the liver and changing the metabolism of certain drugs such as blood thinners.

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