The discovery of vitamin D happened in the late 1800’s when the connection was made between having a sun tan and preventing the rickets, which is a bone disease affecting children and infants.
Whether you think you get adequate sunlight or vitamin D rich foods, vitamin D deficiency still affects over a billion people worldwide, however more predominantly in colder climates where being outside too long is not exactly pleasurable. Low levels of vitamin D are also found to be more likely in eczema sufferers with more severe eczema being linked to even lower vitamin D levels. This link is important when considering your diet or supplements and for this reason, many people choose to introduce this into their daily routine to help support the body in its healing process.
Vitamin D affects around 3000 genes in the body and works to help eczema by improving immune function and reducing the levels of inflammatory proteins while increasing the body’s antimicrobial defenses. Other important health benefits are the absorption of calcium, required for bone development and health, brain development and function to help lessen symptoms of depression and there are new studies suggesting the risk of colon cancer is lowered in people with higher levels of vitamin D. As well as many other crucial health functions, vitamin D is a staple for a strong immune system.
Some great ways to introduce more vitamin D into your diet is by eating the following foods:
Salmon, Cod liver oil, Portabello mushrooms, Firm tofu, Fortified milk (most milks), Fortified cereals (most cereals – but check the labels), Egg yolk, Cheese.
When considering supplementation, beware of vitamin D2 as this is the synthetic variety, it is less effective and not the type produced naturally by the body. However true this is, it is still very commonly sold as THE D vitamin. Always look for vitamin D3 as this is the natural form of D vitamin which your body produces from exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D3 is converted approximately 500% faster than D2. It is also recommended to take D3 with a good oil as this increases the delivery capacity of the vitamin.
One thing to consider is that too much vitamin D can be harmful to your health. So always ensure the amount you are supplementing is correct.
We've scoured the web to find the most popular and highly rated vitamin D products that also contain organic olive oil and believe these three are worth checking out:
NatureWise Vitamin D3
Vita Optimum Vitamin D3
Gaia Sciences Vitamin D3
