What’s coming between us and the skinny jeans

Vilma Brunhuber, Holistic Integrative Nutrition and Health Coach

Health news. As you know, plants need sunlight to produce energy through photosynthesis. And since plants form the foundation of the food web, what do you think would happen if suddenly there was not much sunlight available?

If plants couldn’t use the sun to make nutrients, all living things on the planet would starve. There are many other things the sun does for us, as well.

We definitely need it –The sun provides the vast majority of the energy we need to live.  Voila, there is an answer to a big question everyone is asking: “Why am I so tired?  Why don’t I have energy?

You probably heard that anyone who spends some time in the sun, feels happier, more energized, their workout is better.  It all comes to the Vitamin D, or I should say hormone D.

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Vitamin D is not technically a vitamin, ie, it is not an essential dietary factor; rather, it is a prohormone produced photochemically in the skin from 7-dehydrocholesterol.

The molecular structure of vitamin D is closely allied to that of classic steroid hormones (eg, estradiol, cortisol, and aldosterone) in that they have the same root cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene ring structure. (1)  The skin produces vitamin D3 photochemically from the provitamin D, 7-dehydrocholesterol, which is present in the epidermis.

Vitamin D3 is essential for life in higher animals. Research has shown, for example, that vitamin D3 is one of the primary biological regulators of calcium homeostasis.

Vitamin D, which helps us absorb calcium from our food. You can take all the calcium supplements you want, but unless you have enough Vitamin D, they won’t really help.

Vitamin D deficiency is serious

Vitamin D deficiency may cause problems beyond the fragile bones that cause the falls and fractures of the elderly and others with osteoporosis. We’ve discovered that every cell in the body, whether the heart, brain or immune system, has vitamin D receptors and therefore needs enough vitamin D to run in top form (2). A study in 2010 showed that high doses of vitamin D lowered estradiol and progesterone.

Child with rickets. Photo courtesy www.freegrab.net

Estrogen dominance is one of the main causes of infertility and a host of other problems. In rats, vitamin D deficiency has been shown to increase infertility by 75 percent (3).  Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is one of the leading causes of infertility.  Most women with PCOS are vitamin D deficient.  As this 2011 study concluded,

“…vitamin D deficiency is associated with multiple metabolic risk factors in PCOS women.”(4)

Risk Factors for Vitamin D Deficiency

1. Dark skin: People with dark-colored skin synthesize less vitamin D on exposure to sunlight than those with light-colored skin (5)
2. Aging: The elderly have reduced capacity to synthesize vitamin D in skin when exposed to UVB radiation (6,7)
3. Covering all exposed skin or using sunscreen whenever outside.  The application of sunscreen with an SPF factor of 8 reduces production of vitamin D by 95%.
4. Fat malabsorption syndromes: Cystic fibrosis and cholestatic liver disease impair the absorption of dietary vitamin D (8)
5. Inflammatory bowel disease: People with inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn’s disease appear to be at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency (9).
6. Obesity: Obesity increases the risk of vitamin D deficiency. Once vitamin D is synthesized in the skin or ingested, it is deposited in body fat stores, making it less bioavailable to people with large stores of body fat. (10)

What are sources of vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a unique nutrient because its requirements can be met not only by dietary intake, but also from exposure to sunlight. Humans can synthesize vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) in skin cells following exposure to ultraviolet-B radiation.

When sun exposure is insufficient for the synthesis of adequate amounts of vitamin D in the skin, obtaining vitamin D from foods or supplements is essential for health. However, very few foods naturally contain vitamin D. The richest sources of vitamin D include oily fish, such as mackerel, salmon, or sardines; fish liver oils.

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)

In 2010, the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the Institute of Medicine set a Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) based on the amount of vitamin D needed for bone health. (11)

Although from my own practice I have to say that for most adults 600IU of Vitamin D is not enough unless you live close to equator.  It is always good to have a blood test for 25-hydroxy done and check your levels.  A level of 20 nanograms/milliliter to 50 ng/mL is considered adequate for healthy people (12).  Ask your doctor to have your blood levels of vitamin D tested. That’s the best way to start fine-tuning your body’s vitamin D level.  Know your baseline.

In a research published, scientists studied 16,450 people and found that increasing vitamin D levels penciled out to a lower body mass index. (13)  In a much smaller but cool study, increasing vitamin D levels was found to reduce waist-to-hip ratio in obese adults.(14)

So, Do Sunscreens Do More Harm Than Good?

Photo courtesy jivavls.com

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To your health,

~ Vilma B