Vitamin D

 

Vitamin D known as the sunshine vitamin and is significant in normal body growth and development. Vitamin D is used to absorb calcium and phosphorus to create bone. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin found in certain foods and is manufactured in the skin as a result of direct exposure to sunlight. The liver and kidneys convert vitamin D from food sources or sunlight to its active form, calcitriol.

Functions and benefits of Vitamin D

Vitamin D has a number of important functions and benefits. For example it:

• Calcium, together with vitamin D, can help heal bone fractures from osteoporosis.
  
• Protection against multiple sclerosis (MS)
  
• Prevention of diabetes
  
• Vitamin D also helps to keep teeth and gums healthy
  
• prevents and cures infantile rickets

Recommended Dosage for Vitamin D

• For adults, the recommended dose of Vitamin D is 400 IU (10 mcg ) or 600 IU.
  
• For pregnant women, the usual dose is 600 IU (15 mcg ).

Food sources of Vitamin D

Foods sources of vitamin D include the following.

• fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines, herring.
  
• Eggs, butter, dandelion greens, milk, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, tuna, and vegetable oils.
  
• Vitamin D is also formed by the body in response to the action of sunlight on the skin.

Deficiency Symptoms of Vitamin D

• Bone pain
  
• Tenderness
  
• Muscle weakness
  
• In children, rickets may occur
  
• Diarrhea
  
• Iinsomnia
  
• Myopia