Advantages of Sunshine for Vitamin D

We need vitamin D to help the body absorb calcium and phosphate from our diet. These minerals are important for healthy bones, teeth and muscles.

A lack of vitamin D – known as vitamin D deficiency – can cause bones to become soft and weak, which can lead to bone deformities. In children, for example, a lack of vitamin D can lead to rickets. In adults, it can lead to osteomalacia, which causes bone pain and tenderness.

FROM WHERE DO WE GET THIS VITAMIN D

The common sources of vitamin D are:

SUNSHINE –The most natural way to get vitamin D. Human skin can make large amounts of vitamin D when lots of skin is exposed and the sun is high in the sky. The part of the sun’s rays that is important is ultraviolet B (UVB). We don’t need to tan or to burn your skin in order to get the vitamin D we need. Exposing our skin for a short time will make all the vitamin D our body can produce in one day. We make the most vitamin D when we expose a large area of our skin, such as your back, rather than a small area such as your face or arms.

There are a number of factors that affect how much vitamin D our body produces when our skin is exposed to sunlight.  These include:

1. Time of year and time of day
2. Where you live in the world
3. Type of skin you have

There are other factors which can affect the amount of vitamin D our body makes from exposure to the sun. These are:

1. The amount of skin we expose. The more skin we expose, the more vitamin D we can produce.
2. How old we are. As we get older, our skin has a harder time producing vitamin D.
3. Whether we’re wearing sunscreen. Sunscreen blocks a lot of vitamin D production.
4. The altitude we’re at. The sun is more intense on top of a mountain than at the beach. This means we make more vitamin D the higher up we are (at higher altitudes).
5. Whether it is cloudy. Less UVB reaches your skin on a cloudy day and your skin makes less vitamin D.
6. Air pollution. Polluted air soaks up UVB or reflects it back into space. This means that if you live somewhere where there is lots of pollution, your skin makes less vitamin D.
7. Being behind glass. Glass blocks all UVB, so you can’t make vitamin D if you’re in sunlight, but behind glass.

Certain Food items – We also get some vitamin D from a small number of foods, including oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring and sardines, as well as red meat and eggs.

Fortified Food– Vitamin D is also added to all infant formula milk, as well as some breakfast cereals, fat spreads and non-dairy milk alternatives.

Supplements– In the 21st century, it’s hard to get daily full body sun exposure. On the days that you can’t get enough sun exposure, taking a supplement is an effective way to get the vitamin D your body needs. Most people can take vitamin D supplements with no problems. However, care is needed in a few situations. These situations include:

1. If you’re taking certain other medicines: digoxin for an irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation) or thiazide diuretics such as hydrochlorothiazide or bendroflumethiazide (commonly used to treat high blood pressure). In this situation, don’t take high doses of vitamin D. You should also have your digoxin level monitored more closely if you’re taking vitamin D.
2. If you have one of these medical conditions:
   1. Primary hyperparathyroidism
   2. Hodgkin’s or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
   3. Granulomatous disease
   4. Kidney stones
   5. Some types of kidney disease, liver disease or hormonal disease