“Vitamin D Deficiency –
Why Most Of Us Are Experiencing
Vitamin D Deficiency Symptoms!”
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions Vitamin D and Vitamin D deficiency symptoms?
If you’re like most people, you think Vitamin D is essential for healthy bones – and you’d be right. And of course, severe Vitamin D deficiency results in rickets – bone softening in children potentially leading to fractures and deformity.
But the fact of the matter is this: Vitamin D deficiency symptoms cover a lot more than rickets – with Vitamin D deficiency being responsible for or involved in a host of diseases and illnesses.
Let’s start with the basics.
- First off, Vitamin D is actually a pseudo-hormone, affecting virtually every system and organ in the human body.
- Secondly, Vitamin D is one of the very few vitamins our bodies can actually manufacture itself. Through a complex relationship with sunlight, the cells in our lower skin convert light energy into this crucial substance.
- Third – almost everyone on the planet is unfortunately Vitamin D deficient. This is especially true for darker skinned people, since they process the sunlight into Vitamin D less efficiently than their lighter skinned cousins. (We’re not talking about political correctness here – just pure science!)
How Much Vitamin D Is Necessary?
According to the FDA, the Recommended Daily Amount (RDA) of Vitamin D is between 400 and 600 IU (international units).
Let’s be candid here – this amount is woefully inadequate, and virtually assures at least some level of Vitamin D deficiency. (This number was set at the amount needed to ward off rickets – the extremely severe malnutrition condition of sustained Vitamin D deficiency mentioned above.)
A better method to prevent Vitamin D deficiency and Vitamin D deficiency symptoms would be to calculate what the human body would make on its own when exposed to pre-industrial (agrarian) levels of direct sunlight.
That figure would be from 3,000 to 8,000 units a day!
Why Is Vitamin D Deficiency So Prevalent In Today’s Society?
There are many reasons why Vitamin D deficiency symptoms are so common, but here are some of the major players:
Sunlight. No, the sun isn’t grower weaker – it’s our modern obsession with avoiding sunlight at all costs causing the problem! We humans were formed in sunlight. We evolved in sunlight. We were co-existing quite happily for millennium with the sun. But due to scare mongering quasi-science, we’re now told sunlight is dangerous to our health!
Sunlight becomes dangerous when the skin gets too much UV radiation resulting in a burn. However, normal sunbathing is not only not dangerous, but quite beneficial! It allows us to avoid Vitamin D deficiency symptoms naturally and in a self-regulating manner.
Modern Diet. What Vitamin D our hunter/gatherer forbearers didn’t get from the sun they got from their food. But with so much of the modern diet being processed and mass produced, there is little Vitamin D left in what we eat.
Farming Practices. What little Vitamin D still found in our food is being further depleted by modern farming practices. Remember, Vitamin D is a sunlight vitamin. When plants (and animals) are being processed before they ripen or fully mature, then the concentration of Vitamin D likewise suffers, and Vitamin D deficiency symptoms follow.
What About All This Press I Hear About Vitamin D Deficiency and The Flu?
Frankly, there is a relationship between Vitamin D deficiency and illnesses such as the flu. Nationally known natural medicine physicians such as Dr. Joseph Mercola and Dr. Andrew Jones highly recommend optimized levels of Vitamin D to combat seasonal flu.
Case in point: When does the flu & cold season reach its high? Almost always during the late autumn – winter months. The very months exposure to the sun is at its lowest. Since the body can store Vitamin D, it takes a bit of time before any reserves are depleted and Vitamin D deficiency symptoms appear. But by the time Old Man Winter comes calling, the little we had stored has been used up.
Vitamin D Is not only useful for protection against flu and colds, but there are other even more serious consequences resulting from chronic Vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin D plays a huge role in suppressing inflammation. So why is this important?
Heart disease and cancers are largely caused by Inflammation, not to mention diseases like lupus and arthritis. The process is slow, but unchecked chronic inflammation caused by Vitamin D deficiency can eventually kill.
How Much Vitamin D Should I Be Taking?
As a general rule, a minimum amount should be at least 2,000 IU per day for avoiding Vitamin D deficiency symptoms. Many nutritionists and natural healing physicians (such as the doctors mentioned above) recommend 5,000 IU’s per day.
In fact, if sickness (such as the flu) does occur, some practitioners recommend taking a single weekly dose of 100,000 IU’s of Vitamin D.
Please don’t confuse Vitamin D with Vitamin A. Since many vitamin formulations lump these two together – it’s easy to assume they are similar. Yes, too much Vitamin A can be dangerous. But you would have to take a huge amount of Vitamin D over a long period of time to reach toxic levels.
Caution … There Is More Than One Version Of Vitamin D!
The biologically active form of Vitamin D is known as D3 or cholecalciferol. (How's that for a tongue twister!)
The terms "Vitamin D" and "D3" can be used interchangeably.
Many inferior supplements contain a cheaper D2 version. But in the human body this D2 is inactive and must be first converted into D3 before it has any effects on health and Vitamin D deficiency symptoms. This is a largely wasteful process – especially when the active D3 is so readily available.
Where Can I Find High Dosage Vitamin D3 Supplements?
Higher end vitamin shops are starting to stock their shelves with high potency Vitamin D products. However, in supermarkets and even many pharmacies, finding anything over 1,000 IU’s is still problematic.
The good news is that high potency Vitamin D3 is easily available via mail order – and can be quickly and safely ordered over the web. Even better, Vitamin D3 is really inexpensive – 5,000 IU doses can be as little as 20 cents (!) a day.
Here’s one well recommended source: www.1-vitamind.com/order.htm
Prompt delivery, a superior product and a fair price makes this an excellent choice for avoiding the health dangers of a Vitamin D deficiency.
Here’s To Your Health!
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