💊Daily Pill: What is Vitamin D?
🌞The Role of Sunshine on Longevity & Health
The Daily Pill is a series of very short daily posts where I share the definition of a medical term I think we should all know. Read it every morning and build up your medical vocabulary.
🌞 Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin (derived from cholesterol) essential for maintaining healthy bones and teeth, supporting immune function, and regulating calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood. It is produced by the body when the skin is exposed to sunlight and can also be obtained from certain foods and supplements. Vitamin D plays a critical role in bone health by facilitating the absorption of calcium in the gut. Additionally, it supports muscle function, cardiovascular health, and mood regulation. Adequate vitamin D levels are necessary for overall health and can help prevent a range of health issues, from bone disorders to immune dysfunction.
🤔Why you need to know:
Vitamin D is DEFENITELY one of my top tier supplements. Adequate levels of vitamin D are crucial for longevity, reducing inflammation, and supporting anabolic processes such as muscle growth. It helps prevent bone disorders like rickets in children and osteomalacia or osteoporosis in adults. It also boosts immune health, potentially reducing the risk of infections and autoimmune diseases. Deficiency in vitamin D can lead to fatigue, bone pain, muscle weakness, and an increased risk of fractures.
If you have 5min, you should watch this video:
🧠Trivia:
During the Industrial Revolution, many children developed rickets due to a lack of sunlight exposure because they worked long hours indoors in factories, limiting their exposure to natural sunlight.
