Vitamin D

One of the more interesting of the fat soluble vitamins is vitamin D. The reason this one in particular stands out from the others it that you can actually derive your requirements from non-food or supplement sources.

Vitamin D, also sometimes termed the 'sunshine vitamin', is primarily used by the body in the process of calcium absorption. This makes it especially important to meet your needs to help promote strong bones and teeth. Even if you are taking in a large amounts of calcium, if your vitamin D requirements are not met you may still run into problems.

A second role that this vitamin plays in the body is helping to maintain blood levels of both calcium and phosphorus. This is critical for proper body functioning.

Requirements

The general requirement for vitamin D is 5-15 micrograms, aging adults above the age of 50 needing the higher requirement levels. The great thing about this vitamin is that so long as you spend 15 minutes three times a week exposed to sunlight, you should be able to meet these requirements without any issues.

Long term deficiency of vitamin D in the human body can be problematic, causing osteoporosis in adults or rickets in children. Rickets is a disease that causes a softening of the bone tissue and common symptoms to develop are painful bones, skeletal deformities, increased risk of bone fractures, dental problems, muscle cramps and impaired growth that could lead to permanent shortness (less than 5 feet as an adult).

Being a fat-soluble vitamin, it should also be noted that if your diet is extremely low in dietary fat, you also may have trouble absorbing it from food or sunlight and that can be a cause for deficiency. For this reason, it is a good idea to ensure at least 20-25% of your total daily calories are coming from dietary fat.

On the other hand, a long term excessive intake of vitamin D can also impose some issues, most notably being the development of kidney stones. An excess of calcium in the blood can also occur causing there to be calcium deposits in the heart and lungs. This is a serious problem as it can really affect their ability to function properly.

Sources Of Vitamin D

Good food sources that contain vitamin D are diary products such as cream, butter, cheese and milk, along with fish, oysters and some cereals. Sockeye salmon is a particularly good source of this vitamin, so really focus on including it in your diet every now and again. Also, in addition to providing adequate vitamin D, many of the high-containing vitamin D foods will also offer benefits such as the prevention of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, as well as breast and colon cancer. Making sure these are part of your regular diet in addition to getting some sunlight will ensure proper nutrient standing.

So long as you are being mindful about your diet and are not taking large dosages of supplements or spending a great deal of time outside without sunscreen, you should not have to worry.