Vitamin D3 - Increase your Vitamin D levels with a unique, high-strength, Vitamin D formula

Are you getting enough Vitamin D?

The answer to this is probably “no”, particularly if you bear in mind that current estimates suggest that between 30% and 100% of Americans are currently Vitamin D deficient, with over 1 billion people globally falling in to the same category. This, then, is a far reaching problem and one that has led some researchers to go as far as saying that we are currently in the midst of a Vitamin D deficiency pandemic.

But does it really matter if you are Vitamin D deficient? The answer to this is most definitely yes. Whilst in the past Vitamin D has been relatively overlooked, scientists are now beginning to unravel its secrets and it’s clear that you ignore your Vitamin D levels at your peril.

Most of us think of Vitamin D in relation to the health of our bones. And indeed Vitamin D deficiency is the main cause of the bone softening disease osteomalacia (known as rickets in children). Vitamin D and calcium deficiencies can also lead to osteoporosis in older adults.

But we now know that Vitamin D isn’t just important for our bones. Vitamin D deficiencies have now been implicated in just about every major disease you can think of including heart disease, high blood pressure, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, certain types of cancer (including breast, colon and prostate), diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression and psoriasis. Even infertility problems and PMS may be affected by Vitamin D deficiencies.

So just what is Vitamin D? Well rather surprisingly Vitamin D is not actually a vitamin at all. It is in fact a fat-soluble prohormone (a precursor to a hormone). It is biologically inert and has to go through a two stage process within the body before it is converted into calcitriol - the most potent steroid hormone in the body. And, even though calcitriol is vitally important for our health, Vitamin D is its only source.

We only obtain about 10% of our Vitamin D requirements from our diets because very few foods naturally contain Vitamin D. Fish liver oils such as cod liver oil and fatty fish like mackerel, salmon, tuna, herring and sardines are amongst the best sources. Small amounts of Vitamin D are found in beef liver, cheese, and egg yolks. Some foods such as milk, breakfast cereals and some brands of yogurt and orange juice are also fortified with Vitamin D.

Instead of diet, the bulk of our Vitamin D needs are actually met by the body’s own manufacture of the prohormone. This is known as endogenous production. In order for our bodies to be able to produce Vitamin D we need to be exposed to UV sunlight. In fact, even the food in our diets that naturally contains Vitamin D will have been exposed to UV sunlight at some point in the food chain. For example, fatty fish such as mackerel and salmon only contain Vitamin D because they have eaten ocean algae that contain Vitamin D. The algae make Vitamin D when they have access to solar UV whilst in shallow water.

Vitamin D is made in our skin as a response to UV exposure. The system is so efficient that our skin can produce around 20,000 IU’s (international units) in about 20 minutes of summer sun exposure, provided of course, that the skin is uncovered and sunscreen free and the exposure is not through glass. This is far in excess of current recommended daily amounts (which stands at 200 IU for those up to the age of 50) - although these amounts are currently under review as they are now thought to be far too low.

However, not just any old sunlight will do - the UV index has to be greater than 3. Whilst this is not a problem for those who live in tropical parts of the world as the UV index climbs higher than 3 on a daily basis throughout the year, it can be a problem for those who live in temperate climes because winter sun in these areas is just not sufficient enough to promote Vitamin D synthesis. Other factors such as cloud cover, skin colour and smog also affect the skin’s ability to absorb UV light. And, of course, in today’s more sun aware world using even a low factor sunscreen prevents virtually all UV rays from reaching the skin.

Having enough Vitamin D in our bodies is vitally important if we are to stay healthy. As mentioned above it is the body’s only source of calcitriol and we need calcitriol for a whole host of things. First and foremost, calcitriol is necessary for bone health. Not only does it promote calcium absorption in the intestines and reabsorption in the kidneys, but it also acts to maintain adequate serum calcium and phosphate concentrations. By doing this Vitamin D enables normal bone mineralization to take place and is, therefore, critical for both bone growth and bone remodelling (the name given to the continual process of building up new bone and breaking down old bone).

But we now know that it isn’t just our bones that require Vitamin D. Calcitriol also plays an important role in the maintenance of several of our organ systems and is involved in the production of literally hundreds of different enzymes and proteins that are vital if we are to stay healthy. Apart from helping to build bone, Vitamin D also:

• enhances muscle strength
• possesses anti-inflammatory properties
• strengthens our immune systems
• helps the action of insulin
• has anti-cancer properties

And it’s the fact that Vitamin D is involved in so different aspects of our health, that makes having enough Vitamin D in our bodies so important.

Unfortunately, it can pretty hard to know if your Vitamin D levels are too low (unless you have a blood test) because Vitamin D deficiency is often asymptomatic (without symptoms). If you do display symptoms, the symptoms are not often that specific and can include things such as muscle and joint pain, muscle cramps and weakness, fatigue and disturbed sleep, weight gain, elevated blood pressure, bladder and bowel problems and poor concentration. However, as we pointed out at the head of this article there is a good chance that many of you reading this article are already Vitamin D deficient.

Whilst increasing your Vitamin D levels through increased UV sunlight exposure may be one way to tackle any deficiency, this has to be carefully balanced with the increased risks of skin cancer. A much safer way is to use Vitamin D supplementation and this where Bio Tech’s D3 supplement comes to the fore.

Even though there are two major forms of Vitamin D - Vitamin D2 (or ergocalciferol) and Vitamin D3 (or cholecalciferol), as far as supplementation is concerned, it is essential that you only take Vitamin D3. Vitamin D2 is simply not as biologically active, effective or as safe as Vitamin D3. But with Bio Tech’s Vitamin D3 supplement you can be sure that you are taking the best form of Vitamin D currently available and doing the right thing to make sure that you are no longer part of the vitamin D deficiency pandemic.