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Know The Benefits Of Vitamin D
Know the Benefits of Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a major player in ensuring the body's health. It is a member of the fat-soluble group of vitamins which means that it can be dissolved and stored by our body's fat deposits. Is the only vitamin that the body can produce with adequate exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D may also be obtained from food. The form of this vitamin that comes from plants is called ergocalciferol (also referred to as Vitamin D2). From animals, it is called cholecalciferol or Vitamin D3. Vitamin D has key benefits to the body. They include:
Calcium absorption
Vitamin D is a very important element for building strong, healthy bones. In the intestine, Vitamin D helps the body absorb dietary calcium, the ingredient that promotes that hardness of our bones. With Vitamin D, whatever calcium we take into our body is utilized properly. Vitamin D also benefits the teeth and gums.
Disease prevention
Since Vitamin D helps in the absorption of calcium necessary to proper bone growth, it helps prevent the bone-deficiency disease called rickets in children. Vitamin D also helps prevent osteoporosis, a debilitating bone disease characterized by the decrease in bone density.
Vitamin D has also shown to be very beneficial to the health of the muscles. In a 2003 study that appeared in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, patients who suffered from chronic musculoskeletal pain had a Vitamin D deficiency.
There is also some potential showing Vitamin D's capability to help prevent diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and Type 1 diabetes. The results in studies published in 2004 are suggestive at best, but researchers believe it might hold some promise. Vitamin D helps boost the immune system and may help prevent inflammation, which probably explains its role against arthritis.
Vitamin D's benefits against cancer
New research suggests that Vitamin D may be beneficial against certain cancers, such as prostate, colon and breast cancer. Blood tests conducted by researchers on the subject over a period of time showed that the lower the Vitamin D levels are, the higher the risk of cancer.
The vitamin's active form is capable of initiating important responses in the body. One of these is the regulation of how cells grow and proliferate. When uncontrolled, both these processes result in cancer. Again, the evidence is still suggestive and more studies have to be conducted.
You’ll find extra Vitamin D in foods like salmon, sardines and mackerel. It's also found in cod liver oil and fortified foods like milk and cereals.
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