Embrace The Sun and Vitamin D!

The Vitamin D stands out from the rest simply because of the way you absorb it. It is the only vitamin that is not obtained from consumable products! Instead, your body gets what it needs from the sun. When sunlight touches your skin, that's when your body gets the vitamins it needs.

While it is dangerous to expose yourself to too much sun, you don't actually need to be in the sun for extended periods of time to attain the Vitamin D you need. In reality, the amount of time that you've got to spend under the sun to receive a sufficient dose of the Vitamin D is extremely small. Just a few minutes a day is sufficient to avoid the adverse effects of the sun and to get what you need.

The most important function of the D Vitamin is to help control how much calcium is absorbed from food. As you know, calcium is used to build strong teeth and bones. But did you know that it is also needed to send messages along the nerves and to help muscles, such as the heart muscles, to contract. It is Vitamin D that ensures that there is always sufficient calcium in the blood to perform these tasks. Other functions that require the D Vitamin relate to the immune system and it is believed that it is also a contributing factor towards reducing the risk of contracting cancer and, in particular, colon cancer.

Known as D3 or cholecalciferol, it is a variant of the Vitamin D that is formed under your skin. It's created when the ultraviolet in the sunlight reacts with a type of cholesterol found under the skin naturally. The D3 is converted into a more active form of Vitamin D in the liver and is then channeled to where it is needed the most. Some of the Vitamin D remains in the liver and kidneys to help reabsorb the calcium from the blood. The rest of the Vitamin D is dispersed to the bones to help them retain their calcium and the intestines to aid absorption of calcium from food.

Now that you know that Vitamin D is a vital and why your body needs it, it's time to get out more. Why not make a conscious effort to go out every once in a while to soak in the rays and get the vitamins you need from the sun. Remember, just a little is enough.