Vitamin D is important for your health!

How do you get enough vitamin D?

Where do you find the most vitamin D? Is it in the sun, in the food or in supplements? How much vitamin D do you really need to take according to research today, and how much vitamin D can the body absorb.

Vitamin D is a complicated matter

Vitamin D (Calciferol) is undoubtedly important for bone health. On the other hand, it has been a complex and complicated matter for years when the negative side effects had to be demonstrated. The research has ambiguous answers about what is good and less good. There is a lot of different information available in Google's search engine, which makes it complicated to maneuver and find the correct information.

In the following, we will give our best answer to how and what is enough vitamin D for you. Links and sources are provided below.

Vitamin D in brief

Vitamin D is more than one vitamin. It is actually a specific group of vitamins. There are five different types in this group. The two most important are called Vitamin D2 and D3. You can get all types of vitamin D from sun exposure, diet and supplements.

The sun is the biggest source

The biggest source of a varied vitamin D intake is solar radiation (the ultraviolet UVB rays from the sun), where the diet and nutritional supplements supplement the body's needs. It is called with a nice word – endogenous synthesis – because the skin synthesizes/converts the sunlight endogenously/from within into vitamin D.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin

The reason vitamin D can be absorbed from sunlight and remain in the body for a long time is that it is a fat-soluble vitamin.

• Fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, E and K

What is vitamin D good for?

Vitamin D is very good for the bones, but it is very important for a great deal in your body, e.g. the physiological benefits that you gain from absorbing the adequate amount of vitamin D.

Main physiological functions

The most important physiological function that vitamin D has is that it maintains a sufficiently high level of calcium and phosphate in the blood. If you have a stable level of calcium and phosphate in the blood, you achieve normal and optimal function of bones, muscles and nerves.

A sufficient amount of vitamin D is essential for the absorption of calcium in the intestine, which is essential for maintaining strong bones and preventing osteoporosis.] [Vitamin D also contributes to normal muscle function and can strengthen muscle strength, which is especially important for the elderly.

When the body is exposed to the sun's rays, D2 is converted to D3, which creates an active hormone for the liver and kidneys. The same also happens in the brain and the immune system, although it mainly happens in the kidney.

Vitamin D also plays a role in the normal functioning of the immune system, and some studies suggest that it may have an impact on mood and help reduce the risk of winter fatigue and depression.

It is difficult for research to deduce exactly which psychological functions vitamin D strengthens. On the other hand, a lot of research has been done in what negative side effects such as vitamin D deficiency can have on your or others' psychological state. Among other things, the connection between vitamin D deficiency and depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, etc. has been looked at by experimenting on animals.

Vitamin D deficiency can lead to symptoms such as fatigue, muscle weakness and reduced immune function. In severe cases, it can lead to rickets in children and osteomalacia, a softening of the bones, in adults.

How do you get vitamin D?

As I said, it is important to get vitamin D. The most important and most general advice that we can find from two independent researchers is:

• Eat a varied diet
• Get out in the sun
• Get small everyday doses of sun on small skin areas (face, arms)
• Take supplements if your diet does not contain enough fatty fish.

A varied diet is the type of diet where you neither eat too much nor eat too much of a certain type of food. It is therefore not only useful to eat foods with a high content of vitamin D, it must be a balanced diet.

Foods with a lot of vitamin D

The most important food sources for vitamin D are, for example:

• Salmon
• Herring and sardines
• Cod liver oil
• Canned tuna
• Egg yolks
• Swamp

According to the Danish Health Authority's recommendations, adults and children over the age of 4 should consume 5-10 µg of vitamin D daily. Older people over 70, people with dark skin and pregnant and breastfeeding women are recommended to take a daily supplement of 10 µg of vitamin D. It is important to be aware that excessive use of sunscreen can reduce the skin's ability to form vitamin D from sunlight.

See a list of foods and their vitamin D content from the Norwegian Food Institute with precise data and their µg here.

Vitamin D in winter

We are exposed to little or no UVB radiation in the winter, as the sun does not rise as high in the sky and hardly shines. This presents some challenges for especially the youngest and oldest groups of society, who are particularly exposed to vitamin D deficiency.

Winter fatigue can be a symptom of low vitamin D levels in winter. It may therefore be necessary to take a vitamin D supplement during the dark months to maintain an adequate level.

However, it is important to avoid overdosing on vitamin D, as it can lead to elevated calcium levels in the blood and result in symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and, in severe cases, kidney damage.

There is also research suggesting a possible link between vitamin D levels and the risk of certain autoimmune diseases as well as heart health, but further studies are needed to confirm these links.

STAI contains a healthy supplement of vitamin D.

STAI has the balanced supplement of vitamin D which supports the body, which has an extra need in winter. In STAI, the linseed oil is used to, among other things, ensure effective absorption of vitamin D.

STAI v/Jytte Bille, lifestyle guide