Here is everything you need to know about vitamin D, including how to get it right now.
What does vitamin D do?
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin available through ultraviolet rays (mainly sunlight), certain foods, and supplements.
The main purpose of vitamin D is to regulate calcium and phosphate to keep bones, teeth, and muscles strong and healthy. A vitamin D deficiency can cause rickets in children and osteomalacia—softening of the bones—in adults. On the other hand, preliminary research suggests that consuming enough vitamin D is associated with a lower risk of developing certain diseases, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and with better mental health.
Health benefits of vitamin D
The main health benefits of vitamin D are:
Strong bones and muscles
Vitamin D helps regulate calcium and phosphate in the body, which are essential for bone and muscle health. People who are deficient in this vitamin are at greater risk of developing osteoporosis, a disease in which bones become weak and brittle. It should not be forgotten that teeth are also bones, so getting enough of this nutrient also means stronger teeth.
Improved immunity
There are many rumors about the role vitamin D may play in strengthening your immune system and preventing certain diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. A large study conducted in 2020 by researchers at Universidad de Medicina de Chicago even found a connection between vitamin D deficiency and the likelihood of becoming infected with COVID-19.
Mental health
Some research suggests that inadequate vitamin D levels are linked to depression and that consuming enough of it may improve overall mental health. However, once again, the research is too preliminary for doctors to prescribe vitamin D as a treatment for depression, anxiety, or another mental health problem.
How to get vitamin D
These are the main ways to get enough vitamin D:
Sunlight
Sunlight is one of the most obvious and natural ways to get vitamin D: when the skin is exposed to sunlight, it produces vitamin D from the cholesterol present in skin cells.
Unfortunately, exposure to UV rays is also linked to skin cancer, so you should always weigh the risks and benefits when it comes to spending time in the sun.
Foods rich in vitamin D
Although it is not as effective as sunlight, your daily diet can also help you get the much-needed vitamin D. Eating foods rich in vitamin D can be especially useful if you do not get much sun exposure or have darker skin and therefore do not naturally produce as much vitamin D.
Can you take too much vitamin D?
What makes vitamin D different from other common vitamin supplements is that it is a fat-soluble vitamin. When you consume too much of a water-soluble vitamin, such as vitamin C, the body eliminates the excess through urine. But the same does not happen with vitamin D.
In general, a toxic dose of vitamin D is more than 4,000 IU per day, a level that can actually hinder bone health instead of helping it, according to a 2019 study in JAMA. In fact, vitamin D toxicity can cause hypercalcemia, a condition marked by an above-average amount of calcium in the blood, which can lead to nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, neuropsychiatric disturbances, pain, loss of appetite, dehydration, polyuria, excessive thirst, and kidney stones.