The sun is shining - get your Vitamin D while you can!
Last week just flew by and somehow it’s Monday again and I am only just now sitting down to write. A great week with some new assessments, work at the hospital, a few spin classes and some follow up nutrition appointments – it’s great to be busy! We are also going to a show at the Magic Circle tonight – hopefully I can pick up a few tricks!
This week’s nutrient is Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a very exciting nutrient as it has been the subject of considerable research in the past few years. There is so much to say about this incredible nutrient, that it is not possible to cover everything here.
The first thing to know about vitamin D is that it is not a vitamin, but rather a co- hormone. Vitamin D has received a lot of attention from scientists recently as it has been shown to regulate the expression of several hundred genes. Scientists have shown that vitamin D plays a host of important functions within the human cell and is essential for the health of cells throughout the body.
A typical cell has a life span of 180 days, after which it dies making way for new cells. Cancer cells are cells that 'forget to die' as a consequence of high toxicity and the impact this had on gene regulation. Vitamin D is thought to be helpful in restoring this genetic function within cells and is the subject of current research in the field of cancer. https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancers-in-general/cancer-questions/vitamin-d-sunlight-and-cancer
Vitamin D has been shown to have receptor sites in cells throughout the body, indicating that it is of widespread importance to the health of bones, lungs, endocrine system (especially the thyroid), the pancreas and the brain. Adequate levels have been shown to be protective against many diseases.
It is therefore thought to beneficial to a wide range of health conditions including: asthma, tuberculosis, osteoporosis, osteomalacia (soft bones), arthritis, rickets, mental health, cancer, diabetes 2 and auto-immune conditions.
Functions:
May protect against cancer, fibromyalgia, ME, muscle and joint pain.
May be effective against breast, cervical, prostate, ovarian and colonic cancer. May protect against 80% of different cancers.
Raise serotonin levels (your feel good hormone) with vitamin D instead of sugar.
Help to stabilize blood sugar levels
Help to get calcium over the gut wall
Essential for the normal growth of bones and teeth in children
Protects against muscle weakness
Regulates heart rate
Maintains health and function of the thyroid gland
Can help to reduce hot flushes
Can help to reduce depression
Is used in other hormone functions eg maintaining healthy reproductive hormones
Stops oils from oxidizing (going rancid)
Signs of Vitamin D deficiency:
- Feeling depressed or low
- Muscle or bone aches
- You have a sweaty head (more common in babies)
- Bowel troubles eg IBS, Crohn’s etc
Sources:
ü Sunlight – expose skin to direct light for at least 15 minutes per day
ü Food sources - fish, eggs and dairy. Also fatty salt water fish eg tuna, salmon and halibut.
ü Cod liver oil
ü Butter
ü Sweet potato
ü Dandelion greens
ü Vegetable oils
ü Avocado
ü Alfalfa
ü Nuts and seeds have small natural levels.
How much Vitamin D do you need?
The Department of Health recommends that:
- all pregnant and breastfeeding women should take a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms (0.01mg) of vitamin D, to ensure the mother's requirements for vitamin D are met and to build adequate foetal stores for early infancy
- people aged 65 years or over should also take a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms (0.01mg) of vitamin D
- those who aren't exposed to much sun – for example, those who cover up their skin for cultural reasons, who are housebound or confined indoors for long periods take 10 micrograms per day
Check with your doctor whether you can have a Vitamin D level test and ask whether you need to be taking a supplement. Chances are that if you live in the Northern hemisphere you will be deficient at least half of the year.
Let me know if you have any questions at all!
Have a great weekend.
Kind regards
Angela Hartley
Cardiac Nurse Specialist & Exercise Coach
London, Surrey, International
Tel: +447918 788347