A Guide To The D Vitamin
The D vitamin is the only vitamin that is not acquired from foods that are used up. Rather, the D vitamin is really availed by sunlight on the skin. There has been a lot of media coverage about the dangers of obtaining too much sun but then it is vital that the skin is susceptible to sunlight to get the recommended daily allowance of the D vitamin. In reality, the amount of time that an individual has to allocate in the sun to receive an adequate dose of the D vitamin is extremely small and just a few minutes a day will be enough and not have any negative effects from the amount of ultra-violet light received.
The most important function of the D vitamin is to assist control how much calcium is absorbed from food. The superiority of the calcium is used to bring about strong teeth and bones but it is also needed to send messages along the nerves and to aid muscles, such as the heart muscles, to contract. It is the D vitamin that makes sure that there is always adequate calcium in the blood to perform these tasks. Other functions that desire the D vitamin relate to the immune system and it is thought that it is also a contributing factor in reducing the risk of contracting cancer and, in particular, colon cancer.
The variant of the D vitamin that is formed under the skin is known as vitamin D3, or cholecalciferol. This D vitamin is created when the ultraviolet in the sunlight reacts with a type of cholesterol that is found under the skin naturally. The D3 is converted into a more active form of the d vitamin in the liver and is then diverted to where it is required the most. Some of the D vitamin remains in the liver and kidneys to aid reabsorb the calcium from the blood. The rest of the D vitamin is dispersed to the bones to help them keep their calcium and the intestines to aid absorption of calcium from food.
Even though the larger part of the D vitamin is formed through the exposure of the skin to sunlight there are some foods that do have several of the vitamin naturally. This form of the D vitamin is accepted as vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol. This is used in the same way as the other D vitamins and is the form used to create the majority of D vitamin supplements.
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