Vitamin D3 & Mineral Absorption: Optimal Intake & Benefits

Vitamin D is essential for strong, healthy teeth and bones. Some types of vitamin D regulates immune system activity and is produced in the body through exposure to the sun. Ten to fifteen minutes of unprotected sun exposure, twice a week, will produce enough vitamin D to ensure no deficiency in both children and adults. Vitamin D3 is not a vitamin at all, but a immunosuppressive steroid. It also helps the body to absorb minerals.

Current Recommended Daily Intake (RDI)

• The current RDI of vitamin D ranges from 200 to 600 IUs daily, depending on gender and age. People over the age of 50 are recommended to have 800 IUs daily.

Vitamin D Recommendations

• Some nutritionists have recommended to the FDA that the Recommended Daily Intake of vitamin D should be increased to a range of 800 to 1000 IUs, especially for infants who live in areas of less sunshine.

Functions

• Vitamin D functions as a steroid and a hormone to aide in many vital processes in the body. Vitamin D helps the body maintain balanced levels of calcium and phosphorus, helps the body absorb calcium for strong bones, and may provide protection against conditions like osteoporosis, hypertension, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and several other autoimmune disorders.

Foods with Vitamin D

• Foods that contain vitamin D are eggs, fortified milk and yogurt, fish, cod liver oil, bread and breakfast cereals.

Vitamin D Deficiency

• Having a deficiency in vitamin D can cause rickets (skeletal deformities) and osteomalacia (muscle weakness).

Who's At Risk?

• Those at risk of vitamin D deficiencies are the elderly, obese, those with dark skin, infants that are exclusively breastfed, and those with cystic fibrosis and Crohn's disease.

Vitamin D Overdose

• Too much vitamin D can lead to toxic buildup of calcium in the body and cause kidney stones or hypervitaminosis.