Vitamin D Is a Vitamin Essential
Discover its benefits, what causes vitamin D deficiency, foods rich in vitamin D.
Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin (fat-soluble but insoluble in water). Vitamin D plays an important role in the regulation (to keep the right amount in the blood), calcium, phosphorus and minerals in the body, and to promote normal development of bones. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. Read also: Calcium and vitamin D help to eliminate body fat.
Vitamin D supplements are used to treat and prevent vitamin D deficiency (rickets), parathyroid hormone to regulate, prevent and treat cramps muculaires to treat certain types of disorders related to calcium and phosphate. Read also: Multivitamin: different types of multivitamins.
There are two types of components of vitamin D:
* Ergosterol: the core component of vitamin D in plants,
* Cholesterol: the core component of vitamin D in humans.
When ultraviolet light from the sun reaches a plant leaf, ergosterol is converted to ergocalciferol (this is vitamin D2). Similarly, when the sun’s ultraviolet light reaches the cells of our skin, a form of cholesterol (found in the cells of our skin called 7-dehydrocholesterol) can be converted into cholecalciferol (the preliminary form of vitamin D3) . Read also: Cholesterol: 7 surprising things about cholesterol.
> Benefits of Vitamin D
Vitamin D may:
* Helping to optimize calcium metabolism,
* Helping to optimize the metabolism of phosphorus,
* Helping to prevent type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, hypertension, heart attacks, cerebral embolism, heart failure,
* To help prevent falls and muscle weakness,
* To help prevent osteoporosis while maintaining bone integrity,
* Helping to regulate the activity of insulin and the balance of sugar in the blood,
* Helping to regulate immune system responses,
* To help regulate blood pressure,
* Reduce the risk of excessive inflammation,
* Reduce the risk of certain bacterial infections,
* Support cognitive function (especially in the elderly),
* Support the stability of mood (especially in the elderly),
* Help prevent chronic fatigue,
* To help prevent various types of cancer: bladder, breast, colorectal, ovarian, prostate and rectum.