Optimise Your Health
As with all nutrients, our bodies need vitamin D from the environment (through food or sunlight in this case) to function properly. Vitamin D has a particularly important role in bone health by helping with calcium absorption. This is a very clear relationship as its classic deficiency symptoms are diseases of “soft bones” rickets in children and osteoporosis and fractures in adults.
However with the discovery of Vitamin D receptors in virtually every type of cell in the body, we have found that vitamin D affects many other parts of the body, like the immune system and the cardiovascular system.
Live better, live longer!
This combination of health benefits may be why several studies have found that those with higher vitamin D blood levels live better for longer. So, we need vitamin D to build and keep our bones strong, but also to help the rest of our body function properly.
Unfortunately, research has consistently shown that most people don’t get enough of this important nutrient for a variety of reasons – where they live, what they eat, genetics, lifestyle factors, and more. This is why healthcare providers have been encouraging increasing Vitamin D intake alongside testing blood levels to make sure diets are delivering enough and that intake recommendations are being followed.