Vitamin D

[Ed Vette]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/06/well/live/vitamin-d-deficiency-winter.html?

If you live in a part of the country where winters are cold and gray, it's smart to think about how you'll get vitamin D — often called the sunshine vitamin — over the next several months.

Vitamin D is synthesized in the skin after exposure to the sun's ultraviolet B rays, and is crucial for calcium absorption and the maintenance of strong, healthy bones, said Julie Stefanski, a registered dietitian nutritionist and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Deficiencies, which are common worldwide, can cause soft, weak and brittle bones, leading to fractures. Your vitamin D status can also play a role in other aspects of health including inflammation, autoimmune disease risk, heart health and cognitive function.

Most healthy people with fair skin can typically produce enough vitamin D during the summer by exposing their faces, arms and legs to sunlight for about five to 10 minutes several times per week during midday, when the sun is highest and its UVB rays are most powerful, said Antony Young, an emeritus professor of experimental photobiology at the St. John's Institute of Dermatology at King's College London, via email. People who have more melanin, or darker pigmentation, in their skin need longer periods in the sun — in some cases 2.5 to three times as much, though it depends on your skin tone — because melanin reduces vitamin D synthesis....

[Jolly Blue Giant]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/06/well/live/vitamin-d-deficiency-winter.html?

If you live in a part of the country where winters are cold and gray, it's smart to think about how you'll get vitamin D — often called the sunshine vitamin — over the next several months.

Vitamin D is synthesized in the skin after exposure to the sun's ultraviolet B rays, and is crucial for calcium absorption and the maintenance of strong, healthy bones, said Julie Stefanski, a registered dietitian nutritionist and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Deficiencies, which are common worldwide, can cause soft, weak and brittle bones, leading to fractures. Your vitamin D status can also play a role in other aspects of health including inflammation, autoimmune disease risk, heart health and cognitive function.

Most healthy people with fair skin can typically produce enough vitamin D during the summer by exposing their faces, arms and legs to sunlight for about five to 10 minutes several times per week during midday, when the sun is highest and its UVB rays are most powerful, said Antony Young, an emeritus professor of experimental photobiology at the St. John's Institute of Dermatology at King's College London, via email. People who have more melanin, or darker pigmentation, in their skin need longer periods in the sun — in some cases 2.5 to three times as much, though it depends on your skin tone — because melanin reduces vitamin D synthesis....

My fair skin forces me to stay out of direct sunlight as much as possible. When I'm in it, I have 70PFF sunscreen on. So, I take 2000 iu a day in a gel cap. I keep track of all my blood results (get drawn twice a year) and my Vitamin D chart is above average. I would love to have different skin and be able to get my Vitamin D naturally as I love the outdoors 

[Bill Brown]

Thanks to an article you posted years ago about vitamin D I have been taking 4000 a day ever since. I believe it has help me avoid respiratory issues ever since. Even when I had covid my lungs were good.

Bill

[MightyGiants]

I used to get colds, sinus infections and bronchitis far too often.  I started to take D3 and probiotics and the number of illnesses were greatly reduced.

[LennG]

Because of my 'attraction' to melanoma, I avoid the sun like the plague. But, that said, unless you are a hermit and don't go out all summer, you do have to come in contact with the sun at times. So many people don't apply sunscreen when they drive, but that darn sun beats down on your face, arms, even legs even in a car.

I take other supplements but not Vit D and I should look into that.

[Sem]

After the results of a blood test years ago it was determined that my vitamin D levels were low. I've since been taking a daily 2000 iu gel cap, like Ric. Further testing was fine.

Word of caution, unlike vitamin C, where you can pretty much take massive amounts without a problem, (you just pee out any extra), extreme excess amounts of vitamin D can build up in your liver and can cause damage!!

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/05/health/vitamin-d-toxicity-wellness/index.html

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Because of my 'attraction' to melanoma, I avoid the sun like the plague. But, that said, unless you are a hermit and don't go out all summer, you do have to come in contact with the sun at times. So many people don't apply sunscreen when they drive, but that darn sun beats down on your face, arms, even legs even in a car.

I take other supplements but not Vit D and I should look into that.

Do you get your blood drawn regularly Lenn? You should - and check your D levels

[Ed Vette]

After the results of a blood test years ago it was determined that my vitamin D levels were low. I've since been taking a daily 2000 iu gel cap, like Ric. Further testing was fine.

Word of caution, unlike vitamin C, where you can pretty much take massive amounts without a problem, (you just pee out any extra), extreme excess amounts of vitamin D can build up in your liver and can cause damage!!

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/05/health/vitamin-d-toxicity-wellness/index.html

I was taking 2000 and still came up deficit so I was told to take 4000. I've read that 4000 is safe. However it's also in multivitamins so I back off to one capsule of 2000 every other day.

[Ed Vette]

Do you get your blood drawn regularly Lenn? You should - and check your D levels

Lenn, definitely get the blood test.

[LennG]

we just had our yearly physicals and blood work. Except for my sugar being a bit high, the doc said everything else was OK. I will check with him on the vitamin D thing though.