Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that our body uses in more than one way, making it a very versatile and important vitamin. Not only does our body use it to make a prohormone or a precursor to a hormone, it works along with phosphorus and calcium, and helps bone metabolism and neuromuscular function.
It is also interesting because it is a vitamin our body can make when UVB light touches skin. Many Americans are becoming deficient in this vitamin because of so much time spent inside and away from the sun. Deficiencies can cause many problems, yet they are easy to relieve with more time spent outdoors and with supplementation.
Not all vitamin D supplements are the same. Besides the obvious difference in dosage, some can be as little as 400 IU all the way up to 5,000 IU or more, they also are not of the same quality. Supplements found in grocery and health stores do not always give you the best quality for your money. These supplements may stay in your bloodstream without being used by the body and cause more problems than they are supposed to treat.
The quality of the ingredients used may also not be what it should be; the less quality the worse it is for you. Some contain fillers that add bulk to the pill but do nothing for your symptoms or health. Others get their form of vitamin D from the wrong sources and your body just simply cannot use it. When this occurs, calcium levels can rise to dangerous levels and cause kidney stones, failure, and other problems.
There are two types of vitamin D, D2 and D3. Vitamin D2 is called ergocalciferol and is the form of D found in or made from plants. This type does not convert to the proper type of D your body can use. This is usually the form of supplements prescribed by doctors. D2 is also the type of D that causes most of the toxic effects heard about. This is NOT the form of D you want to use.
Vitamin D3 is called cholecalciferol and is the natural form of D that the body can actually use. Your body actually makes about 10,000 IU when exposed to 15-20 minutes of summer sun; but the body does not make more if you are exposed to sun longer. With the threat of skin cancer we tend to pile on the sunscreen which inhibits the making of vitamin D and may even contribute to skin cancer. Even an SPF of 8 can block vitamin D production by up to 95%.
Some companies rely on a few tests done about the vitamin and studies from other sources. They do not do their own testing on the product they make, let alone its effectiveness. When this happens, the question remains, how do they know their product works? You want to find a company that does testing on the vitamin D supplement they sell. They should be proud of their product and boast about the tests done to prove it works.
