Vitamin D3: The Sunshine Vitamin
Vitamin D3 has been overlooked for too long but, we are happy to say it is finally receiving the serious attention it deserves.Vitamin D3 is known as ‘The Sunshine Vitamin’, and is crucial for everyone’s all-round well being, helping in several essential functions from bone strength to calcium absorption, boosting immunity and cancer prevention.
Popular and essential vitamins like vitamins B12, C and E, may hold the award for being ‘Most Familiar’ with many of us, but they are about to share their celebrity position with another crucial vitamin: Vitamin D3.
Vitamin D3 has been overlooked for too long but, we are happy to say it is finally receiving the serious attention it deserves.
Vitamin D3 is known as ‘The Sunshine Vitamin’, and is crucial for everyone’s all-round well being, helping in several essential functions from bone strength to calcium absorption, boosting immunity and cancer prevention.
Why is it called the "Sunshine Vitamin"?
It’s called the sunshine vitamin because when exposed to the sun, our bodies produce vitamin D3. It is an unfortunate truth that these days many of us are Vitamin D deficient because of our mostly “indoor” lifestyle, (and our awareness of the risks of skin cancer from too much sun exposure, and subsequent use of sunscreens), which can lead to a host of health complications.
Vegans tend to be consistently low in D3, as it is almost impossible for them to come close to adequate supplementation from their diet. D3 rich foods are fatty fish, eggs, yogurt and milk, and fortified foods and cereals. But the levels of D vitamins found in food are inadequate for optimal health. Undoubtedly the role Vitamin D3 plays in promoting and maintaining healthy bones is known to you, but are you also aware that vitamin D3 is crucial for:
- Absorbing calcium
- Fighting depression
- Developing healthy immune and cardiovascular systems
- Essential for the proper functioning of the pancreas, muscles, brain, and the control of cell cycles
- It aids in boosting weight loss
- Offers protection from certain cancers and type 1 diabetes
“Activated Vitamin D is one of the most potent inhibitors of cancer cell growth. You can reduce your risk of developing colon,breast, and esophageal cancers by 30 to 50% just by getting enough vitamin D.”
~ Head of the Vitamin D, Skin, and Bone Research Laboratory and the World's Top Vitamin D Researcher, Dr. Michael F. Holick
Recently, there is escalating evidence linking low levels of D3 to increased risks of bone and muscle pain, type 1 diabetes, and cancers of the colon, breast, ovaries, prostate, esophagus, and lymphatic system.
Research into D3 is intensifying, and as it does so, doctors are praising its properties as one of the best cancer-cell-growth inhibitors.
As the head of The Vitamin D, Skin, and Bone Research Laboratory, and the world’s top vitamin D researcher, Dr. Michael F. Holick said “Activated vitamin D is one of the most potent inhibitors of cancer cell growth. You can reduce your risk of developing colon, breast, and esophageal cancers by 30 to 50% just by getting enough vitamin D”. It also stimulates your pancreas to make insulin and activates and regulates your immune system so you can better fight infections.
"If you have a Vitamin D deficiency, particularly in your older years, it can lead to osteoporosis or osteomalacia [bone softening]"
~ Lona Sandon, RD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas.
Importance for women:
Crucial to the preservation of bone-health all through one’s life, adequate levels of D3 must be reached. Women especially, who are deficient lose as much as 3-4% of their bone mass per year. Often women suffering from skeletal and muscle aches and pains are misdiagnosed as suffering from fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue, when in fact they are chronically D3 deficient.
In studies done at Harvard University, women who had a high intake of vitamin D3 decreased their chances of multiple sclerosis by 40% and rheumatoid arthritis by up to 44%, and significantly reduced the risk of breast cancer by practically 50% .
Very few women over the age of 50 (less than 10%) get adequate amounts of vitamin D3 from their diet, says Holick. You can boost your levels through sunlight exposure, but as we age, our body’s natural abilities to process sunlight into vitamin D3 declines. He highly recommends supplementation.
This perfectly balanced dose of Vitamin D3, Vitamin K2, and Magnesium comes in an easily applied slow release patch. Our innovative and convenient delivery method gives you bioavailable D3, K2, and Magnesium through direct slow absorption into the skin, closely resembling the body’s natural production of D3 through sunlight exposure.