Vitamin D3 the sunshine vitamin is a fat-soluble and essential to bone growth and strength. It is found naturally in very few foods, the body makes it naturally when the rays from the sun reach your skin. It seems that your skin is a vitamin D3 production center for your body.
People wearing sunscreen, those that are house bound or have dark skin have more difficulty manufacturing enough vitamin D3 for needs of the body.
Calcium With Vit D
Vitamin D3 is found in from a few foods we eat and also from supplements. If you are house bound or extremely sun sensitive then supplementing your diet with high quality D3 capsule or spending a little time under full spectrum light or in tanning booth are the alternatives to naturally increasing the D3 levels in our bodies.
How does the body use this essential vitamin?
1. Promotes calcium absorption in the gut .
2. Helps maintain adequate serum calcium and phosphate concentrations to enable normal mineralization of bone and prevent hypocalcemic tetany
3. Is needed for bone growth and bone remodeling by specific bone cells called osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Without sufficient Vitamin D3, bones can become thin, brittle, or misshapen.
4. It helps balance blood calcium levels.
5. It helps increases absorption of calcium from the intestines to the blood stream where 95 per cent of the calcium is stored.
6. It stimulates calciferol to absorb phosphorus into the body.
7. It helps calcium calm the nerves.
8. It regulates muscle contraction and bone strength.
9. It helps regulate the immune system and reduce inflammation.
10. It also helps many genes make proteins that regulate cell multiplication, differentiation, and cell death especially in deficiency and rickets in infants and young children.
Vitamin D3 is obtained the following foods:
Butter, cheese, cod liver oil, eggs, liver, fortified margarine, milk (human and other animal), mushrooms, salmon, sardines, flax seeds, shrimp, tuna, sunflower seeds.