Vitamin D3 the sunshine vitamin is a fat-soluble and essential to
bone growth and strength. It is found naturally in very few foods, the
body makes it naturally when the rays from the sun reach your skin. It
seems that your skin is a vitamin D3 production center for your body.
People
wearing sunscreen, those that are house bound or have dark skin have
more difficulty manufacturing enough vitamin D3 for needs of the body.
Vitamin
D3 is found in from a few foods we eat and also from supplements. If
you are house bound or extremely sun sensitive then supplementing your
diet with high quality D3 capsule or spending a little time under full
spectrum light or in tanning booth are the alternatives to naturally
increasing the D3 levels in our bodies.
How does the body use this essential vitamin?
1. Promotes calcium absorption in the gut .
2.
Helps maintain adequate serum calcium and phosphate concentrations to
enable normal mineralization of bone and prevent hypocalcemic tetany
3.
Is needed for bone growth and bone remodeling by specific bone cells
called osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Without sufficient Vitamin D3, bones
can become thin, brittle, or misshapen.
4. It helps balance blood calcium levels.
5. It helps increases absorption of calcium from the intestines to the blood stream where 95 per cent of the calcium is stored.
6. It stimulates calciferol to absorb phosphorus into the body.
7. It helps calcium calm the nerves.
8. It regulates muscle contraction and bone strength.
9. It helps regulate the immune system and reduce inflammation.
10.
It also helps many genes make proteins that regulate cell
multiplication, differentiation, and cell death especially in deficiency
and rickets in infants and young children.
Vitamin D3 is obtained the following foods:
Butter,
cheese, cod liver oil, eggs, liver, fortified margarine, milk (human
and other animal), mushrooms, salmon, sardines, flax seeds, shrimp,
tuna, sunflower seeds.