The Powerful Vitamin D

Within the last few years, the scientific community has experienced a revolution in regards to this powerful vitamin D.

There isn’t a conference or a congress where this topic is not featured in and already, it has led the USA to spend millions of pounds in its investigation.

What is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D or its metabolite, which is its active part o D3, is a compound that our organism needs and synthesises. 90% of its sythetization takes part through the skin whilst the remaining 10% comes from food, which includes fish such as salmon as well as products such as milk or egg yolk.

How is Vitamin D synthesised in the skin?

Vitamin D is synthesised through the ultraviolet rays that come from the sun.

What happens after Vitamin D is synthesised?

In the beginning, it was thought that Vitamin D only aided towards the breaking down of calcium by allowing it to be deposited within our bones. If patients didn’t take enough calcium it would lead to rickets in children and Osteomalacia in adults.

However, new discoveries have lead to the finding that Vitamin D works as a hormone.

This means that the Vitamin acts at a cellular level within our organism and in turn impacts the most on us.

What other new discoveries have been published?

It has been found that 40% of adults older than 50 are experiencing deficiency of this vitamin.

This is also true in 52% of adolescents of Hispanic origins and White Americans, 48% of pre adolescent women as well as 39% of young healthy adults.

Deficiency of this vitamin is seen the highest in children from Mongolia with 60% of them affected as well as within women and children in the Middle East.

Apart from producing rickets and Osteomalacia it can also be related to the following pathologies:

• Schizophrenia.
• Depression.
• It can cause mood changes.
• Infectious diseases predominantly respiratory such as tuberculosis
• Asthma
• Cystic Fibrosis
• High blood pressure
• Autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 Diabetes that is predominantly seen in children and adolescents.
• Multiple Sclerosis.
• Parkinson’s Disease.
• Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
• Fibromyalgia.
• Crohn’s Disease.
• Muscular and Bone ailment.
• Osteoarthritis.
• Osteoporosis.
• Skin Diseases such as Eczema, psoriasis or vitiligo.
• Dental diseases.
• Colon, Breast or Pancreatic Cancer.

Lastly, scientists have also discovered and have evidence that Vitamin D protects the organism against the gravest illnesses, and that around 13% of deaths that take place in the USA and 9% of in Europe, can be attributed to low levels of Vitamin D. 

So, how can we obtain normal levels of Vitamin D?

Just exposing our arms, face and legs for 5 to 30 minutes, twice a week to the sun will be enough to keep those levels normal whilst avoiding going out in mid afternoon.

How will we know if we have any Vitamin D deficiency?

Through a blood test prescribed by your doctor.


To whom is it recommended to take supplements followed by regular check ups?       
1. It affects mothers that breastfeed as their milk lacks this Vitamin.                             2. People that have dark skin as their skin has less capacity to produce Vitamin D due to the sun.
3. People that are obese with a body mass index of over 30 as it is harder for Vitamin D to be passed through to the blood. 
4. Older adults as they have less capacity of producing Vitamin D through the sun.       5. People that wear clothes that cover them whether that is due to their job or religious       beliefs.
6. People that have had a gastric bypass o any weight loss surgery.
7. Patients that take medication such as glucocorticoids or anti-epileptic drugs.               8. Patients that experience hepatic and renal issues.
9. People that live isolated in their homes or closed institutions.

Warning.

All Vitamin D supplements must be taken with supervision by your doctor.

Where is the majority of this information taken from?

From the prestigious magazine British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Dr J. Hurtado Martínez

Medical Director of HealthSalus