Especially important for seniors. Medical science generally agrees that the elderly should take vitamin D3 supplements.
I have also seen articles saying that vitamin D can mitigate COVID somewhat.
If you are out in the sun all day everyday, then you need not be concerned. Your body will manufacture all the vitamin D it needs from the ultraviolet light you absorb. However, as you get older, one loses this ability.
Also, if yours is an indoor life; you may not be getting enough of this vitamin.
For more information about vitamin D, here is the relevant federal National Institutes of Health page about vitamin D. The site also mentions that excessive vitamin D consumption can be detrimental.
- End of Article -
Vitamin D Deficiency Is a Growing Health Concern
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| Fortified milk is a good source of vitamin D. |
If you are out in the sun all day everyday, then you need not be concerned. Your body will manufacture all the vitamin D it needs from the ultraviolet light you absorb. However, as you get older, one loses this ability.
Also, if yours is an indoor life; you may not be getting enough of this vitamin.
List of Foods Rich in Vitamin D
Unfortunately, there are not that many foods that are considered a nutrition source for vitamin D.- Fortified milk seems to be America's primary source for vitamin D.
- Other dairy products also have a smattering of it.
- Fish foods have vitamin D. Swordfish and especially sockeye salmon are the big two. Tuna comes in third. Sardines are also a contender. And if you want to give yourself a mega-dose, a tablespoon of cod liver oil will give you over 300% of the body’s daily requirement.
- Liver has it.
- Fortified orange juice has a decent amount.
- Multivitamins generally have 100% to 200% of the recommended daily dosage. Needless to say, check the label.
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| Sockeye salmon is a good vitamin D source. |
For more information about vitamin D, here is the relevant federal National Institutes of Health page about vitamin D. The site also mentions that excessive vitamin D consumption can be detrimental.
When to Do Vitamin D Supplements
As a side note, I am an older person. My doc says I should take vitamin D3 supplements (5,000 IUs (international units), daily). Apparently, us older folks don't manufacture vitamin D from sunshine as well as we used to. Vitamin D3 supplements are available at any drugstore. Do buy only from reputable stores and reputable brands. Unfortunately the supplements industry is said to be completely unregulated; there are media reports the FDA just doesn't have the manpower.- End of Article -
[An interesting comment follows.]
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ReplyDeleteCrucial new information you should incorporate into this article.
It has emerged that taking vitamin D alone isn't such a good idea. Doing so brings all sorts of health benefits but also potentially deadly long-term side effects. D3 needs to be balanced with another nutrient, vitamin K, and not your basic kale 'n' spinach type K either (K1), but a form called K2, found in completely different foods and having a completely different metabolic activity. Many researchers now think K1 and K2 should be treated as separate nutrients.
Back to the beginning...
The water-soluble vitamins (B-complex, C) and oil-soluble ones (A, D, E, K) are very different in that the latter can accumulate in your body to toxic levels if you take too much. Take too much A, for example, and your skin will start to fall off. Take too much D and you get runaway calcification of arteries, heart valves, and brain tissue, resulting in non-Alzheimers dementia. In the context of arteries, calcification is a huge culprit in atherosclerosis, a.k.a. hardening of the arteries, the #1 cause of heart attack, stroke, and DEATH in the developed world. Turns out it's the calcified arterial plaques that are the real killers. The non-calcified ones may restrict blood flow, but they don't rupture nearly as much, the catastrophe that completely blocks arteries, resulting in heart attacks, strokes, and sudden DEATH.
5,000 i.u. of D3 is 6.25 times as much D as you're supposed to really need. If you're also drinking milk and going out in the sun, this is starting to get worrisome. The good news is that K2 is an antidote for the toxic effects of too much D. It not only stops the calcification, it actually reverses it, causing the calcium to migrate from plaques and soft tissues to where it belongs: your bones. Taking both K and D completely corrects your calcium metabolism to a healthy pattern (assuming you're getting enough calcium, usually not a concern).
More about K...
K1, which is supplied by dark green leafy vegetables, is crucial to blood clotting and can interact dangerously with Coumadin. K2 doesn't do any of that. It's strictly involved in calcium metabolism and is only found in animal tissues and certain fermented foods. Egg yolks and liver are both good sources of the K2 known as MK-4. Note that egg yolks and liver are also foods doctors have warned everyone to avoid for most of 50 years (speaking for myself, I loathe liver anyway). Between that and freaking everyone out about sun exposure, you gotta wonder... Do we trust these "geniuses" too much...
Anyway, the most desirable form of K2, because it's so easily absorbed in our guts, is MK-7, which only occurs in certain bacterial-fermented foods that Americans NEVER eat, such as NATTO. Natto is this putrescent slime the Japanese put on their cheerios for breakfast in the morning. It is most definitely an acquired taste. Note that Japan also has one of the lowest heart disease rates in the developed world, also extraordinary average longevity. Natto may be why.
Fortunately we no longer need to slurp putrescent slime to get our MK-7 K2 these days. We can get it from pills made from natto, including the growing number of D3 supplements that include MK-7. Those are the ones you want. Even among those, though, the amount of MK-7 is usually paltry. I like to see at least 180 mcg. The best, most thrifty product I've yet found is Now Foods D3 + Mk-7 (5,000 i.u. + 180 mcg). Now foods is also a major, reasonably reputable brand. No, I am not a shill for Now Foods.