Do You Understand the
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I’ve been avoiding writing about vitamin D facts because it hasn’t been clear to me, as someone who enjoys a plant-based diet and doesn’t do a lot of sunbathing, just where to get adequate amounts of vitamin D. I figured I’d have to supplement in order to stay healthy.
Why It’s Important
The vitamin D facts that we’re being told by the experts and news media are to make sure we consume enough vitamin D because it plays an important role in the health of our organ systems. Okay, that’s a little vague.To be more specific, a deficiency supposedly is instrumental in causing bone diseases, including rickets, osteomalacia, and osteoporosis. It’s also implicated in chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, breast cancer, colon cancer, and ovarian cancer. We’re told an adequate amount will keep our bones and teeth strong, reduce inflammation , and regulate the activity of our body’s cells and the immune system.
Wow, this sounds important and I figured I probably should supplement with vitamin D. My studies revealed to me that this substance is produced in our body’s skin when it’s exposed to sunlight. Since people have been using sunscreen so much to protect against skin cancer, it seems likely that those people wouldn’t be producing the vitamin D in their skin and would need to eat vitamin D-rich foods or take supplements.
Sources
What are the best natural sources of vitamin D? Mostly fish, including fish liver oils: herring, catfish, salmon, mackerel, sardines, tuna, shrimp, salmon, cod and eel. And eggs.The Search Continues…
I continued to search the Internet for vitamin D facts… and this is when it got interesting. I discovered a website filled with a completely different and fascinating viewpoint and well, my head is still spinning. The science presented there seems to contradict nearly all of the information we’re getting these days about why we need to make sure we’re all getting adequate amounts of vitamin D.Trevor Marshall, PhD, of the Marshall Protocol, states, “Vitamin D is not a nutrient.” He refers to it as a secosteroid, a substance which has a steroidal nature. It makes me think of steroid drugs like cortisone. People may feel relief from pain when they take them, but what damage is being done to the immune system?
A paper entitled “Vitamin D discovery outpaces FDA decision-making,” in BioEssays, Feb 2008, presents the following viewpoint:
“Vitamin D not only regulates the expression of genes associated with calcium homeostasis, but also genes associated with cancers, autoimmune disease, and infection. …the FDA recently proposed a rule-change which will encourage high levels of Vitamin D to be added to even more foods, so that the manufacturers can claim those foods ‘reduce the risk of osteoporosis.’ …This BioEssay explores how lifelong supplementation of the food chain with Vitamin D might well be contributing to the current epidemics of obesity and chronic disease.” (underlining added)
The paper continues:
“This BioEssay has examined a number of ways in which, while the widespread use of Vitamin D as a food supplement may be providing short term benefits to a subset of the population, epidemic expansion of obesity and chronic disease are quite possibly the legacies to be bestowed upon future generations.“…At any level of molecular analysis, the Vitamin D metabolites are part of the delicate homeostasis which allows our bodies to express genes…”
My little article about vitamin D facts turned out to not be so straightforward, after all. I do know that I’m not about to run out and buy a bottle of vitamin D. I may even be more careful about eating fortified foods. And I’m certainly not going to make any recommendations other than to do your research and think about this carefully. Once again, I am led back to the belief that it’s best to get your nutrition from whole plant foods, not a bottle of pills.
Return to Nutrition Facts from this Vitamin D Facts page.
