Pollywogs!

You may have heard how important vitamin D is for building strong bones, and how it is formed in your skin when you’re exposed to sunshine. What you may not have heard is how important vitamin D is throughout your body, and how little you are likely getting compared to how much you should ideally have floating through your bits and pieces.

I read this excellent article in Scientific American a week or two ago called Cell Defenses and the Sunshine Vitamin (those cockheads only let you read a little tid-bit intro, don’t they know this is 2007 (and nearly 2008)?). I’ll try to summarize the neatest (and most important) things from the article without boring the shit out of you…

Vitamin D is found a bit in fish oil and a few other sources, but by far the primary and most important source is from skin exposure to sunlight. Guess what most people don’t get very much of these days (and when they do, they’re slathered in sunscreen)… UVB is the magic ingredient in sunshine which creates vitamin D. When you go outside in the summer, perhaps in a bathing suit around noon, and you lay out in the sun for 15 minutes, your body creates 10,000 IU of vitamin D. 400-800 IU is the amount usually states as the “Recommended Daily Allowance”. See anything unusual between those last two sentences?

Vitamin D was originally thought of in terms of an ‘anti-rickets’ vitamin, which is the reason to this day it is often described as being necessary for strong bones. Yes, but not only that by a long shot! Vitamin D acts as a hormone in the body, regulating and overseeing a very wide range of systems: a hormone a chemical created in an organ (the skin) and circulated throughout the body. One effect of vitamin D is as a bolster against cancer, by enhancing the effect of genes which trigger the self-destruction of healthy cells with damaged DNA. Risks for breast, prostate and colon cancers are at least 30% higher when you are chronically deficient of vitamin D. More striking is that they cite a figure of 77% lower risk for all cancers for women over 55 who took 1,100 IU a day over three years compared to a placebo group (more details on this study here). Personally, I find that “fucking amazing”.

Vitamin D also strengthens the immune system by increasing the antimicrobial powers of our immune cells. The specific action of vitamin D just happens to be very effective against the tuberculosis bacteria, which is why those sick with TB ‘back in the dark ages’ often got better when convalesced in sunny locations. The article suggests that vitamin D enhances the immune system in this fashion to compensate for the fact that it slightly suppresses inflammatory responses (the authors further describe how vitamin D may be useful in assisting with autoimmune diseases such as IBD and multiple sclerosis).

So, nearly everyone doesn’t get enough of this essential vitamin (hormone, even) that regulates and has a very wide range of beneficial action throughout your entire body. What to do? One author takes 4,000 IU a day during the winter months, the other takes 1,000 during the winter months. Myself? We’ve added 1,000 IU twice a day, probably cut back to 1,000 a day during the summer. Basically, there is so little UVB during at least a one month period during winter that your body is basically making no vitamin D, and your blood levels decrease further and further. And if a little bit is good, an 10,000 IU per 15 minutes is natural, I have no problem at all taking 2,000 daily year round.

In fact, it is one more little thing that helps set my mind at ease…