the sun vitamin

Full disclosure: In exchange for mentioning Adora in this post, I was offered a giveaway for my readers. However, my opinions stated on Adora are my own and I was not compensated in any other way for mentioning Adora products on my blog.

Hey guys! How are you?

It’s been a crazy week over here for me! I’ve been sick with either a cold or allergies for the past few days. It’s been pretty miserable. I’ve been exhausted, congested, coughing, losing my voice, etc. Yesterday I completely lost my sense of taste, which didn’t allow me to taste test a recipe I was hoping to share with all of you today!

Obviously I’m hoping it’s allergies, but it may be a cold? I’m just not sure. Hoping I’ll feel better today and by this weekend. I have a TON of homework to do!

(source)

But speaking of school – one of the classes I am taking this semester is Medical Nutrition Therapy. It’s definitely going to be the most work, but probably be one of the most amazing classes I take in my life. It’s basically teaching me how to become a clinician, which is what I want to do as a Registered Dietitian.

In our first class session, we went over some of the dietary guidelines and issues facing our world currently. The slide that stuck out the most to me was the three most deficient micronutrients that plague world health right now: Iron, Calcium and Vitamin D.

I’ve learned the deficiency problems iron and calcium are, along with protein. But this was the first time the severity of vitamin D malnutrition was brought to my attention. As soon as this was discussed in class, vitamin D kept appearing in lessons and conversations in other classes and seminars. Now that it’s been brought to my attention I remembered a major research project one of my professors took on last semester that measured, through light sensitive badges, the vitamin D exposure parents and children received.

(source)

For those of you who don’t know – vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin that plays an important role in bone health. It allows calcium and phosphorus to be absorbed in our bodies and move into our bones, promoting healthy strong bones.

Vitamin D is a very special vitamin because our bodies turn uv rays from sunlight into vitamin D when it hits unprotected skin. It’s the only vitamin that we don’t need to actually consume through our diet, because our bodies can make it. However, as my MNT professor explained, vitamin D is a new hot button nutrition concern as skin cancer becomes more common. As we all become more sunblock obsessed, our vitamin D absorption from the sun is blocked and it becomes an essential vitamin required in our diet.

Vitamin D needs are based on your age. Here’s a brief rundown of adequate intakes based on one of my nutrition textbooks:

The upper limit is the amount at which you can take with no thought adverse side effects (you can never be sure with supplements though).

However, vitamin D levels on supplements are given in IU, or international units, which is a measurement used for vitamins. I found a great conversion calculator for IU to μg and vice-versa that translates the above table into the following needs in IU:

Where do we find vitamin D?

As I mentioned, vitamin D can be created by the body through sunlight. There is no risk of toxicity of vitamin D from sunlight, however there is obviously the risk of sunburn and skin cancer. And so we wear sunblock, which blocks the absorption of UV rays from the sun and protects us from burn and cancer. But sunblock disables the absorption of the raw product (UV rays) that the body uses to create vitamin D.

Recommendations for sunlight exposure depend on season, location and skin pigment. Darker skin needs more exposure than lighter skin. People living north of the 40° north latitude line lose the ability to absorb vitamin D from the sun during 4 months of the winter. General recommendations state most people can expose their hands, face and arms on a non-cloudy day in the summer for 5-10 minutes, 2-3 times a week to receive enough vitamin D. Sunblock can be added after this time has elapsed to protect from burn.

Because everyone’s exposure from location and skin color is different, vitamin D is fortified in many foods. There are few natural sources of vitamin D in foods – the main sources being some fatty fish (tuna and salmon for example) and mushrooms. Vitamin D is required by law to be fortified into whole milk, though most other milks are also fortified.

Vitamin D can also be consumed in supplement form. I recently found out the Adora calcium disks I eat every day for my calcium intake are also fortified with vitamin D. Adora was a sponsor at Healthy Living Summit and I spoke with someone at their company about the vitamin D in their supplements. Each chocolate disk has 250 IU of vitamin D. Depending on your age, you would be able to consume your required vitamin D each day in either 1 or 2 discs.

If you have questions about Adora, I really like how informative their website is and you can also find them on facebook, if you are a facebook fan.

(source)

As a reminder, each adora disk has 500 mg of calcium, or half the required intake for an adult (1300 mg is required for adolescents). Also remember that only 500 mg of calcium can be absorbed from the body at each time, so if you take two disks each day, consume each at different times.

I love adora disks and was very pleased to learn I was already consuming my required vitamin D each day and didn’t have to add another supplement or worry about my vitamin d levels this winter! I’m also happy to know that I’m taking vitamin D at the same time as I’m getting my calcium, so I can be confident by body will be able to absorb the calcium through the aid of the vitamin d.

I wanted to share this information with all of you, as it’s something that I’ve come across lately and has been on my radar. I also mention Adora because I know it’s a product I’ve discussed before and it’s been on everyone’s mind that attended HLS.

If you have any questions about vitamin D, please feel free to leave them for me.

How do you get your vitamin D every day?