Vitamin D is essential for the proper functioning of the body. It acts on bone health, immune system, inflammation control and even prevention of autoimmune diseases.
Nevertheless, vitamin D deficiency is common and reaches about 15% of healthy adults in Brazil. The good news is that it is possible to increase the levels of this vitamin naturally and safely.
How to get vitamin D?
This vitamin is composed of five shapes (D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5), being D3 the most important for the body. About 80 to 90% of vitamin D3 is produced through sun exposure. The body produces the substance when the skin comes into contact with the UVB ultraviolet rays, especially in the early morning and late afternoon.
Experts recommend on average 5 to 30 minutes of daily sun exposure without sunscreen, with uncovered arms and legs. This time varies according to the skin tone, where the person lives and the season.
People with darker and older skin, for example, need more time in the sun to get the same amount of vitamin D. For these groups it is recommended to 30 to 40 minutes of sun.
“Darker-skinned people are more likely to vitamin D deficit, because melanin absorbs ultraviolet rays before they can convert 7-dehydrocolesterol into cholecalciferol (vitamin D3). The elderly also have lower capacity production and absorption of vitamin D. There are also diseases that may interfere with the absorption or metabolism of this vitamin, such as renal, hepatic disease and Disabsortive intestinal, ”explains Antonio Carlos do Nascimento, endocrinologist.
Because skin cancer is common in Brazil, head and neck should always be protected with sunscreen or covered with grape and UVB protection clothing during this period of sun exposure.
“This exhibition should be done three times a week, and the skin’s redness should be avoided, as this already means sun injury,” adds Sérgio Setsuo Maeda, endocrinologist at the Brazilian Society of Endocrinology and Regional Metabology (SBEM-SP).
Can you get vitamin D for food?
In addition to the sun, another natural way to increase vitamin D rates is through food, although on a smaller scale.
Foods rich in vitamin D are:
- Fatty fish such as salmon, tuna and sardines;
- Egg yolk;
- Liver;
- Mushrooms.
The use of supplements should only be done with medical advice. Excess substance in the body can cause intoxication, with symptoms such as nausea, weakness, mental confusion and increased calcium in the blood, which overloads the kidneys.
Vitamin D: Supplementation is now suitable for children and adolescents
This content was originally published in vitamin D: how to increase levels naturally and safely on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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