Vitamin D regulates over 3,000 genes and over 50% of people in the world don’t have enough. This means 50% of the people in the world are believed to be at a higher risk for cancer, obesity, heart disease, and osteoarthritis. You’re also likely to get sick because vitamin D is believed to directly affect your immune system.
You Can Get All Your Vitamin D from the Sun
It actually is possible for you to get all your vitamin D from the sun, but it’s not very likely.
Some reasons you may have issues getting enough vitamin D from the sun:
- Latitude – The further you are from the equator the harder it is – especially during the winter months
- Skin Color – It takes people with darker skin longer to get vitamin D from the sun
- Work – The best time to get vitamin D is around solar noon. If you work indoors, you probably aren’t able to get adequate levels of vitamin D.
- Weight – Since vitamin D is released from fat, obese people often have a vitamin D deficiency.
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600/800 IU of Vitamin D is Not Enough
The Food and Nutrition Board currently recommends 600 IU per day for everyone from 1-70 years old. When you get older than 70, you’re supposed to ramp it up to a whopping 800 IU. Why is this a problem?
If you were getting adequate sun exposure, you’d be OK. But you’re probably not. 600-800 IU simply isn’t much at all. The only way to really tell if it’s enough is to get the 25(OH)D test. You’re looking for levels around 30 ng/mL.
Start supplementing at 2,000 IU per day if you aren’t getting sun exposure. 4,000 IU per day is considered a safe upper limit, though some say 10,000 IU per day is still safe.
Vitamin D2 is not the same as Vitamin D3
Most plant sources contain vitamin D2, so vegans listen up. Cholecalciferol (D3) is the form of vitamin D you want. Ergocalciferol (D2) is converted at a rate 500 times slower than D3. So if you take vitamin D2, you’re not getting nearly as much vitamin D as you think you are.
If You Burn, You Might Not Be Getting Vitamin D
The rule about safe sun exposure is to only expose your skin to the sun until your skin turns the slightest pink. But just because your skin has turned pink doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve gotten any vitamin D at all. If you are out in direct sunlight and there’s nothing between you and the sun, yes, you’ve produced vitamin D. However, if there’s glass between you and the sun (like when you’re driving), you’re not producing vitamin D. The glass actually filters out the beneficial UV rays.
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Research References:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3239848/
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