Vitamin D - the latest super Vitamin

I don’t know about you but if there is something i can do to help my health I’m going to do it! right?

Now I have been living in Brisbane Queensland for about 1 1/2 years (wow that’s crazy and I actually feel I’ve been here longer) and the weather here is almost always sunny and believe me its actually like the UK summer time here in the winter, its absolutely beautiful. As you can imagine I’ve never felt the need to take Vitamin D supplements but on the other hand I don’t exactly tend to hang out in the sun here either so if I’m walking around in the sun, which I do every day I usually carry a UV umbrella and I’m covered in SPF 50 I also try and keep in the shade which as a hot city they really provide good shade in almost every spot. I do this because I don’t quite fancy aging my skin or being sun burnt and then having a chance of getting skin cancer which by the way Queensland is the number one place in the world with the highest skin cancer rates and oh my gosh I’ve never seen so many clinics stated skin doctors.

I’ve seen a lot lately about vitamin D (which prompted this blog) and when I really looked into this you need to be in the sun for around 20 to 60 minutes a day to get enough, depending on your skin type so the darker skin you have the longer you need sun exposure and the bigger body mass you have also the longer plus there’s your age, so older people over 65 need longer in the sun than someone who say is in their 20’s or 30’s.

Skin Damage

Now I’m thinking to myself if I do this every day that’s going to be a lot of skin damage mounting up. I apply SPF and this blocks 97% of UV rays so am I getting a little Vitamin D and is it even enough. I apply most areas of my skin properly apart from my ears and feet as quite honestly I don’t fancy getting grease all over my hair and my feet well lets just say I’m lazy and I just quickly rub it over.

So as you can see its very conflicting, one source is saying use sun screen all the time while in the sun and another source is saying you need your Vitamin D. Honestly you cannot win but I’m trying too

The Vitamin that's not a Vitamin

Now vitamin D is the only vitimin proven to work and actually it’s not even a vitimin despite the name, it’s actually a secosteriod hormone amd it’s required to absorb calcium from the gut into the blood stream so of course it plays a truly important role for bone health and teeth. It’s also been linked to other health benefits such as

  • supporting the immune system helping fight of flu and upper respiratory infections
  • It has been linked to helping depression and it might play an important role in regulating your mood
  • May also help by playing a role for people trying to lose weight by helping regulate hormone balance

Children and Vitamin D

Children usually have vitamin D drops provided for them by the health visitor when they are born and if you formula feed then it’s added in the milk and as they get older. If you live in the northern hemisphere its recommended to continue giving them Vitamin D drops as rickets is sadly making a come back because children nowadays are staying in more and not getting any exposure to the sun at all.

Now an important thing to remember is this...

Too much Vitamin D through a supplement isn’t good either and can create health risks. 600 to 800 iu is recommended for most people daily, but some vitamin D providers recommend around 1000 iu daily sometimes they even recommend more which is about two to three capsules a day so a lot of people are completely over doing it

How I take mine…
At the moment I take Ostelin vitamin D tablets but I’m thinking of changing mainly because the tablet size is so big amd it doesn’t sit right with my health anxiety. It recommends taking two tablets daily so. that would equal 1000 iu. What I do is this, I take just one of those a day so it gives me 500iu and I rely getting the rest from the sun light where I miss spots (my ears) or through clothes and even that 3% that gets through the spf. my food provides Vitamin D such as salmon, tuna and eggs they are good sources although they dont provide massive amounts.

Back in the UK

Now when I return to the UK actually right at the beginning of winter, oh lucky me and how on earth are the kids going to cope they currently think 21 degrees is quite chilly. I wont be wearing SPF apart from my face and neck as I do wear it all year around in vain and obviously that is normally the only body part out in those months, so maybe if the sun is in and the clouds are out and grey I will increase my Vitamin D intake to 800iu!

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