Vitamin D deficiency is fairly common. It is especially common among African-Americans and the Hispanic communities.

SUN EXPOSURE: Anthropologists tell us that humans evolved near the equator in Africa where sunshine is rich and balmy most of the year and where our predecessors walked around practically naked, their bodies producing lots of vitamin D each day. As our human ancestors began to migrate away from the equator they developed lighter skin which enabled faster vitamin D production especially under diminished sunlight conditions. 

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: About three centuries ago human habits began to change; they started to spend less time outdoors, science and technology brought automobiles and sunscreens(to protect against skin cancer), and humans began wearing more garments thereby reducing the amount and duration of sunlight exposure and the body’s capacity to produce adequate amounts of vitamin D. 

POOR NUTRITIONAL HABITS. LIVER/KIDNEY DISEASE: Besides conditions of poor nutritional intake and chronic alcohol abuse situations, we see vitamin D deficiency in severe liver or kidney disease. Why? Well, as you will discover below, vitamin D is made in the skin with the help of sunlight, but it is useless until it is altered and activated in the liver and kidneys before it can be ready to do its job in the body.

It can do this by supporting:

• BONE HEALTH (Support Osteoporosis treatment)
• MUSCLE HEALTH, MUSCLE STRENGTH AND FUNCTION
• IMMUNE FUNCTION 
• SUPPORTING PREGNANCY HEALTH
• REDUCING INFLAMMATION (almost 30% of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, brain, nerve, connective tissue, and joint diseases now thought to be associated with abnormal inflammation!)

Vitamin D is a naturally occurring substance that has health and nutritional benefits. Only a few foods like fatty fish and mushrooms contain vitamin D naturally. 

It is produced by your body in the lower layers of the top layer of your skin(epidermis) when it is exposed to sunlight or specialized lamps.

Generally in western countries, cow and plant-based milk products along with certain breakfast cereals are fortified with Vitamin D. 

Vitamin D which is made in the skin is not really biologically active until it is transferred to the liver and the kidneys where it is altered to make it active.

Now you ask, “why is this important to me?”

Well, if you have liver or kidney problems from any of several possible causes, you may develop severe Vitamin D deficiency because Vitamin D cannot be changed into its effective form. To address this problem, you may need to take a Vitamin D supplement that comes in the active form.

Technically, Vitamin D is considered a hormone because the body makes it just like it makes other natural hormones you’ve heard of like insulin, estrogen, testosterone, and others. 

Exciting stuff isn’t it?

So exactly what does this vitamin/hormone do?

Mainly, Vitamin D helps you absorb the calcium, magnesium, and phosphate that your body needs from your intestines. 

These three substances are vital for your bone and muscle health; calcium, magnesium and phosphate. They are used by your body to build bone. They are also important for muscle function. Phosphate is part of the powerful energy producing substance known as ATP that your body needs and every metabolic process in your body depends on. Without these three guys(magnesium, calcium, and phosphate), you cannot survive! 

As you go about your daily life, Vitamin D is working hard to keep you strong and healthy.

To understand how Vitamin D works, let’s sidetrack for a second and talk about your body with its trillions of cells, most of which are in your muscles, bones, and skin, as well as other cells that are mobile, like your red blood cells, white blood cells, antibody producing cells, etc. On many of these cells you can find docking sites(receptors ) for specific hormones. When a particular hormone docks it triggers an action within the cell. 

As a hormone, Vitamin D has docking sites all over your body. Therefore it can regulate how the cells in your beautiful body work. 

Some of these docking sites are on ‘roaming cells’ like white blood cells and Natural Killer cells that are part of your IMMUNE defense system protecting you from bad actors, intruders and invaders like bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Now you can understand why vitamins D is so important in supporting your immune system.

Vitamin D can help prevent soft bones(osteomalacia), and OSTEOPOROSIS which results in lower bone mineral density and fragile bones that fracture easily. 

ATHLETES and others involved in contact sports who are deficient in vitamin D, develop STRESS FRACTURES more frequently.

Vitamin D deficiency is extremely common among DARKER SKINNED individuals. Ironically, the amount of melanin in their skin which affords them greater protection from skin cancer, also prevents the skin from making adequate amounts of Vitamins D. This factor is of importance in pregnancy situations where a vitamin D deficiency in a pregnant mother of color may adversely affect her baby’s physical and intellectual development. 

Elderly individuals with low or excessive levels of vitamin D in their blood are at greater risk of DEATH.

• Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with risk of developing certain types of CANCER such as colorectal cancer and a recent study showed Vitamin D supplementation reduced the rate of recurrence of certain digestive cancers by 73 percent!
• Vitamin D may boost IMMUNITY and reduce CHRONIC INFLAMMATION both of which may lower the risk of some cancers.  
• Vitamin D has been helpful in the treatment of TUBERCULOSIS and may help patients with Type 2 DIABETES, CROHN’S disease and ULCERATIVE COLITIS. 
• Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with DEPRESSION, DEMENTIA, ALZHEIMER’S disease, SCHIZOPHRENIA, pregnancy complications such as GESTATIONAL DIABETES, PRE-ECLAMPSIA, and UNDERSIZED BABIES.

According to HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL the daily requirement for-

• Individuals Aged 1 to 70:  600 IU (15 mcg)
• Ages 71 and older:  800 IU (20 mcg)

Taking an excessive amount(more than 1000-4000 IU) of Vitamin D supplement is not recommended. 

You may experience nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, kidney failure, severe depression, irritability. 

Watch out for gimmicks that appeal to your emotions and recommend you take MEGA amounts! This may be injurious to your health! 

Vitamin A, D, E, K, are fat-soluble which means consuming excessive amounts of any of these micronutrients can lead to a buildup of it in your body and potentially cause serious harm to your organs. 

1. Vitamin D Supplementation Linked to Fewer Suicide Attempts. ME Tucker. Medscape, July 26, 2023: 5-7.
2. Regular Vitamin D Supplements may Lower Melanoma Risk. Liam Davenport. Medscape, January 12, 2023……”This study was published December 28, 2022 in Melanoma Research and it involved almost 500 individuals attending a dermatology clinic who reported on their use of vitamin D supplement. Individuals who regularly took Vitamin D supplements were significantly less likely to have a history of malignant melanoma, or any type of skin cancers than non-users, said Finnish investigators. They also found a trend for benefit with occasional use”
3. In adults with pre-diabetes, Vitamin D cuts diabetes risk. Medscape. February 7, 2023. “ these findings led by Anastassios G, Pittas, MD, MS, with the division of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, were published online in Annals of Internal Medicine (2023 Feb 7.doi:10.7326/M22-3018).
4. Vitamin D deficiency linked to loss of muscle strength. Maureen Salamon. Harvard Health Publishing. April 1, 2023. Pg.1-6. (Harvard Medical School reported this study published online September 15, 2022 by the journal Calcified Tissue International and Musculoskeletal Research.This study revealed that people deficient in Vitamin D were 70% more likely to develop dynapenia(age-induced muscle weakness)  by the end of the study than those with normal vitamin D levels. As stated by Harvard, “the results made sense because vitamin D is known to help muscle repair and contraction. People can avoid vitamin D deficiency through careful sun exposure, eating foods rich in vitamins, or taking a supplement”).
5. Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Death, New Study Finds. Miriam E. Tucker. Medscape. October 24, 2022.
6. Small study finds high-dose Vitamin D relieved toxic erythema of chemotherapy. Medscape. January 6 2023. “As reported in a research letter by Cuong V. Nguyen MD of the department of dermatology at Northwestern University in Chicago, a few patients who developed skin complications after chemotherapy and were treated with Vitamin D, all patients experienced symptomatic improvement in pain, itching, or swelling within a day of the first Vitamin D treatment”.