We all know that Vitamin D is vital for the proper functioning of your body. It’s the essential vitamin that our bodies can not produce on their own. Nearly every cell in our body has a vitamin D receptor which can influence the expression of more than 200 genes. Unfortunately, Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to the risk of heart attack, cancer, diabetes, asthma, and autoimmune disease. The best way is to get get sunlight or UV exposure as your primary form of vitamin D. However, if you don’t live in warm sunny places, then you should supplement. Then what’s the scam you might ask?
VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY: 3 WAYS WE GOT SUCKED INTO THE VITAMIN D SCAM
- The Sun is not a villain.
We’ve been brainwashed to think that sun exposure causes cancer. What about the centuries of extreme sun exposure (farming and hunting) and just a few cases of cancer? The truth is, no sunlight means no Vitamin D. Vitamin D which is really a hormone synthesized in the skin from sun exposure, and activated in the liver and kidneys. In fact, 80 to 100 percent of the vitamin D we need comes from the sun. As you can see, we’ve been lied to about the dangers of sun exposure by the sunscreen industry. Why? Because is a billion dollar industry. Conventional sunscreen not only contains very dangerous ingredients but sunscreens also block production of vitamin D and other beneficial photoproducts produced in the skin in response to UVB. So try spending about 15 to 30 minutes, or about half the time it takes your skin to turn pink, in direct sunlight.
- Most Doctors recommend the wrong type of Vitamin D.
Have you been told you need more vitamin D? Most doctors prescribe Vitamin D2 instead of Vitamin D. Vitamin D comes in two natural forms: Vitamin D2, called ergocalciferol, comes from plants.
Vitamin D3, called cholecalciferol, is from animal sources, and is the active form, like the vitamin D obtained from sunlight. Vitamin D2 is ineffective as it can not be manufactured by the human body even when the skin is exposed to sunlight. In a paper published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, we see that D2 should not be viewed as an equivalent supplement to D3.
- Vitamin D enriched foods are useless.
A lot of people look for products enriched with Vitamin D. But did you know that most conventional companies add chemically-synthesized vitamin D. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that synthetic vitamin D2 “should no longer be regarded as a nutrient appropriate for supplementation or fortification of foods,” because of it’s ineffectiveness and even toxicity to our health.
If you choose to supplement with Vitamin D, look for animal based such as vitamin D3 (here).
You can also obtain some vitamin D from your diet through animal based sources such as:
- Wild Fish, such as salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardines
- Egg yolk
and
- Reishi Mushroom
Reishi Contains Vitamin D
Mushrooms are one of the only good dietary sources of Vitamin D which makes them a particularly beneficial supplement for vegetarians and vegans. In fact, mushrooms can convert ultraviolet light from the sun into vitamin D.