What's the scoop on vitamin D(3), and why is everyone always talking about it?
As a physician who specializes in integrative medicine, there is no vitamin or supplement that ticks more boxes than vitamin D.
In fact, if someone said I could only take one supplement a day, I would be reaching for my daily dose of vitamin D because it has health benefits across so many physiologic functions.
In this post, I’ll break down Vitamin D’s benefits and how it can help your internal health and by effect, your external vibrance.
Vitamin D’s Many Benefits
The focus on internal health is an important one for me. I’m a firm believer that you can’t see improvements in your hair and skin until you make improvements on the inside. Just see what this supervitamin can do.
Vitamin D's benefits include and are not limited to:
- Supporting immune health
- Promoting tissue health and rejuvenation (and this includes, skin, hair, and nails)
- Aiding in weight loss
- Lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes
- Improving bone health
- Decreasing the risk of certain kinds of cancer
- Potentially reducing the risk of heart disease
- Boosting mood and promoting good brain health
How Can You Increase Your Vitamin D Levels?
When our skin is exposed to sunlight, specifically UV-B rays, our body starts producing vitamin D3. In addition, we can get additional vitamin D from certain foods as well as nutritional supplements.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means that it only gets absorbed effectively when taken with fats and stored in the body's fatty tissue and liver. Historically, the normal range has been >30ng/ml. But the more contemporary research has shown that levels closer to 50ng/ml could have additional health benefits.
For skin issues like acne, psoriasis, and eczema, Vitamin D can help. There’s evidence that patients experiencing inflamed acne, saw improvements after increasing their Vitamin D levels.
In my experience most patients are low in Vitamin D despite supplementation. So at your next doctor's visit, ask them to check your levels so you can supplement adequately to get to your goal! Your skin and your body will thank you.
