Let’s Get Healthy, Mom! Getting Enough Vitamin D

Is your family getting enough vitamin D?  If you aren’t sure then chances are good that you are vitamin D deficient.  In the past decade researchers have been shining the light on this all important sunshine vitamin and it’s implications for the health of us and our children.

Vitamin D is essential for the proper absorption of calcium in our bodies.  We produce vitamin D naturally when our skin is exposed, unprotected by sunscreen and clothing, to natural sunlight.  Just 20-30 minutes of unprotected time in the sun can allow our bodies to produce 10,000 iu (the scientific measurement for vitamin D) of vitamin D.  Darker-skinned people need up to six times more exposure to generate the same amount of vitamin D.¹ However, in an effort to curb the incidences of skin cancer, the admonition from medical experts for decades has been to cover up, cover up, for goodness sake COVER UP before we ever set foot in the sunshine.  This mandate coupled with poorer nutrition and the use of the vastly inferior, synthetic vitamin D₂ in conventionally-produced cow milk and other fortified foods has caused a dramatic decrease in our levels of vitamin D and, subsequently, our health.  Studies suggest that as many as 75% of light-skinned Americans and 97% of dark-skinned Americans are deficient in vitamin D.²

So, what does this mean for your family?  Spurred on by a sharp increase in the number of cases of rickets (a disease causing extremely weak, soft bones) in children, science has only just begun to scratch the surface of all the benefits of sufficient vitamin D₃ intake.  However, research has implicated vitamin D deficiency as a major contributing factor in at least 17 different types of cancer and countless other health conditions such as birth defects, osteoporosis, heart disease, autoimmune diseases (such as multiple sclerosis and HIV/AIDS), chronic fatigue, seasonal affective disorder, depression and more.  It has also been shown that sufficient levels of vitamin D help to boost the immune system.  To help ward off the potential for these diseases it is imperative that we maintain optimum vitamin D levels.  This is especially important if you are a breastfeeding mother.  A vitamin D deficient mother will be passing this deficiency along to her baby without proper supplementation.  The only way to know for certain if your levels of vitamin D are in the acceptable range is to have the 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) test performed by your doctor.  Ideally, your vitamin D levels should be above 50 ng/ml (125 nmol/L) year-round for both adults and children.³

If your doctor discovers that your levels of vitamin D are insufficient, it’s time to take action.  However, don’t toss your sunscreen into the trash just yet.  We simply need to rethink sun exposure a little bit.  While there have been no official recommendation changes regarding when and how much sunscreen to apply, some renowned physicians are reconsidering their ideas on the topic.  Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D. says, “To make sure you’re getting adequate vitamin D you could cut back slightly on sunscreen use. Don't bake on the beach, or spend a summer's day outdoors unprotected. Certainly, use sunscreen if you will be outdoors when the sun’s radiation is at its most intense - especially between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., near the summer solstice, and at high altitudes or low latitudes. But it may do you more good than harm to get out in the sun for 15 minutes or so without protection several days a week. Afterwards, go back inside and slather on the sunscreen.”⁴

Another option for helping to improve your vitamin D levels is to increase your intake of vitamin D₃-rich foods such as fortified milk, orange juice, breakfast cereal or almond milk (make sure that your fortified cereal or beverage contains vitamin D₃ and not the inferior vitamin D₂, which is difficult for the body to absorb), salmon, mushrooms, sardines, yogurt, cod liver oil, oysters, eggs and shrimp.⁵  However, many of these foods do not contain enough vitamin D₃ per serving to give a significant boost to your vitamin D levels.  If you find that you are deficient, your best option is to begin adding a vitamin D₃ supplement to your daily routine.  Although the FDA has increased their recommended daily allowance of vitamin D₃ to 400 iu a day, many doctors feel that this number is still too low considering we receive 25 times this amount from just 15-30 minutes in the sun.  The National Osteoporosis Foundation now recommends at least 800-1000 iu a day for adults between the ages of 50 and 70 and Dr. Weil recommends 2000 iu a day for his adult patients although he now considers this amount to be on the low end of the ideal dosage spectrum.  The Vitamin D Council recommends 1,000 iu a day in liquid form for children under the age of 1 year, 1,000 iu of vitamin D₃ per every 25 pounds of body weight per day for children 1-12 years of age and 5,000 iu for anyone over the age of 13.

While more research needs to be done on the benefits of optimal vitamin D₃ levels and any unknown risks of supplementation with vitamin D₃, one thing is clear – we all need more of this sunshine vitamin to improve our health and our mood.  So, make an appointment with your family physician and then “hit the air”, as my mother-in-law likes to say.  It’s time to soak up some rays!

¹Vitamin D Council
²Center for Disease Control’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey on www.cdc.gov
³ “Am I Vitamin D Deficient?” on www.vitamindcouncil.org.
⁴Weil, Andew, M.D. "Rethinking Sunscreen" on www.drweil.com.
⁵Tourville, Jacqueline. “15 Foods High in Vitamin D” on www.babyzone.com.