Vegans, vitamin D and the sun
I would really like to start taking vitamin D after everything I have read. Even in the summer I don't tend to go in the sun as I burn really easily. I have tried to find some D2 (Ergocalciferol) the vegan source of vitamin D but I have had no luck. Even when I have asked at the Pharmacy they didn't have a clue what I was going on about. I e-mailed Holland & Barrett about their Vitamin D supliments which were suitable for veggies but found that it is derived from sheeps wool! Does anyone know where I can get some vegan vitamin D
Vitamin D3: I'm worried now
After reading up on how D vitamins could be animal derived...would that also include the D vitamins in multivitamins?
I take a multivitamin by Webber Naturals. I contains Vitamin D3 Palmi...(I can't remember the whole word, I don't have the bottle with me). I know Vitamin D3 in margarines are animal derived, so is it the same with multivitamins?
I'm almost done of my multivitamin bottle so I need to buy more. Any good recommendations? I don't have a credit card, so I can't shop online though. :(
Re: Vitamin D3: I'm worried now
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Tigerlily
After reading up on how D vitamins could be animal derived...would that also include the D vitamins in multivitamins?
I take a multivitamin by Webber Naturals. I contains Vitamin D3 Palmi...(I can't remember the whole word, I don't have the bottle with me). I know Vitamin D3 in margarines are animal derived, so is it the same with multivitamins?
I'm almost done of my multivitamin bottle so I need to buy more. Any good recommendations? I don't have a credit card, so I can't shop online though. :(
D2 and D3 are actually different chemicals, not just source.
D2 is ergocalciferol, and D3 is cholecalciferol.
D2 is the majority of D supplement added to dairy and other supplemented foods. It has a lower toxicity level than D3, but too much of any Vitamin D (like 1000% RDA) will cause undesirable and quite painful calcium deposits where they do not belong.
D3 is derived from animals always, it's the kind that your skin produces while exposed to the sun (using cholesterol). Humans are capable of producing quite a lot of vitamin D when they are in the sun for hours. Although it has a much higher toxicity level than D2, your body will not overproduce it. You can only suffer toxicity from D3 by supplementing with dead animal bits, wool, or dairy. From what I've read wool is the most common source. Yes some multivitamins use D3 claiming it's 'more healthful' or better becouse it's supposedly more absorbable.
I get D2 from the local health-food-shop. It comes in 150% RDA pills, and is as cheap as dirt. I take it whenever I'm not in the sun enough. If you take it with meals containing fat it is more efficiently absorbed.
Lastly, some studies show that VitaminD deficiency can also manifest as cancer, including skin cancer. No surprise I suppose. It's a vitamin that should always be present in fair amounts in humans, but people are afraid of that big sun and airy outside world so far away from their TV and microwave...
Oh, Look on some online vegan stores like veganessentials, they always carry vegan Vitamin D and B12.
http://www.veganessentials.com/catal...-by-freeda.htm
'Vitamin D myths, facts and statistics'
According to http://www.newstarget.com/003069.html ...:
32% of doctors and med school students are vitamin D deficient.
40% of the U.S. population is vitamin D deficient.
42% of African American women of childbearing age are deficient in vitamin D.
48% of young girls (9-11 years old) are vitamin D deficient.
Up to 60% of all hospital patients are vitamin D deficient.
76% of pregnant mothers are severely vitamin D deficient, causing widespread vitamin D deficiencies in their unborn children, which predisposes them to type 1 diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia later in life. 81% of the children born to these mothers were deficient.
Up to 80% of nursing home patients are vitamin D deficient.
More from the same article:
Quote:
Vitamin D prevents osteoporosis, depression, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and even effects diabetes and obesity. Vitamin D is perhaps the single most underrated nutrient in the world of nutrition (see related ebook on nutrition). That's probably because it's free: your body makes it when sunlight touches your skin. Drug companies can't sell you sunlight, so there's no promotion of its health benefits. Truth is, most people don't know the real story on vitamin D and health. So here's an overview taken from an interview between Mike Adams and Dr. Michael Holick.
1. Vitamin D is produced by your skin in response to exposure to ultraviolet radiation from natural sunlight.
2. The healing rays of natural sunlight (that generate vitamin D in your skin) cannot penetrate glass. So you don't generate vitamin D when sitting in your car or home.
3. It is nearly impossible to get adequate amounts of vitamin D from your diet. Sunlight exposure is the only reliable way to generate vitamin D in your own body.
4. A person would have to drink ten tall glasses of vitamin D fortified milk each day just to get minimum levels of vitamin D into their diet.
5. The further you live from the equator, the longer exposure you need to the sun in order to generate vitamin D. Canada, the UK and most U.S. states are far from the equator.
6. People with dark skin pigmentation may need 20 - 30 times as much exposure to sunlight as fair-skinned people to generate the same amount of vitamin D. That's why prostate cancer is epidemic among black men -- it's a simple, but widespread, sunlight deficiency.
7. Sufficient levels of vitamin D are crucial for calcium absorption in your intestines. Without sufficient vitamin D, your body cannot absorb calcium, rendering calcium supplements useless.
8. Chronic vitamin D deficiency cannot be reversed overnight: it takes months of vitamin D supplementation and sunlight exposure to rebuild the body's bones and nervous system.
9. Even weak sunscreens (SPF=8) block your body's ability to generate vitamin D by 95%. This is how sunscreen products actually cause disease -- by creating a critical vitamin deficiency in the body.
10. It is impossible to generate too much vitamin D in your body from sunlight exposure: your body will self-regulate and only generate what it needs.
11. If it hurts to press firmly on your sternum, you may be suffering from chronic vitamin D deficiency right now.
12. Vitamin D is "activated" in your body by your kidneys and liver before it can be used.
13. Having kidney disease or liver damage can greatly impair your body's ability to activate circulating vitamin D.
14. The sunscreen industry doesn't want you to know that your body actually needs sunlight exposure because that realization would mean lower sales of sunscreen products.
15. Even though vitamin D is one of the most powerful healing chemicals in your body, your body makes it absolutely free. No prescription required.
There is more interesting stuff there too - read the whole article!
Re: 'Vitamin D myths, facts and statistics'
I saw an item about about Vit D just the other day and it's been found that 90% of residents in nursing / retirement homes in the Sydney area are Vitamin D deficient.
Apparently D is protective against breast cancer so maybe the girls need to get their tits out in the sun, thereby improving the health of themselves and any grumpy old men in the vicinity. (Earlier research found that 'staring at womens breasts' improved men's health) :)
Re: 'Vitamin D myths, facts and statistics'
Haha, nice one Geoff. There must be a significant level of Vitamin D-deficiency among young females at rock festivals... Roll on Glastonbury!
Anyway... Although I found that article to be very interesting and eye-opening, I always take statistics like this with a pinch of salt. Saying that a certain element of the populace is 'deficient' in something or other, is subjective; we don't all have the same opinion with regard to what constitutes 'deficiency'.
Also, we must bear in mind the fact that exposure to the sun, can and does cause skin cancer. Although the more cynical among us might argue that the sunscreen industry is responsible for making us think that. Who knows?
Anyway, with regard to the above article, I can't see why the writer(s) would have any reason to mislead us about this, and it's actually prompted me to get out into the lovely sunshine we're having at the moment.