How to take vitamin D correctly

If you have already included food supplements with vitamin D in your daily menu, you have taken a step forward. Most of us have low levels of the vitamin especially in the winter, and research has long suggested that higher levels may be responsible for preventing colds and flu. According to a recent study, the vitamin even improves athletic performance.

Scientists from Minneapolis, USA, believe that vitamin D supplements reduce joint pain, improve mood, increase energy. It has long been known that the vitamin has a serious role in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, and asthmatics and people with vitamin levels below the norm are 6 times more at risk of viral infections.

The body of young people produces vitamin D on its own when exposed to the sun. It is enough to spend 10-15 minutes a day in the open air for our body to generate the required amount. But studies show that half of adults and 70% of children are unable to obtain the vitamin.

How to determine whether our body is synthesizing enough vitamin D? The easiest way to do this is with a blood test. If it turns out that the amount is insufficient, you can compensate by standing longer in the sun, by emphasizing foods such as eggs, salmon and mushrooms, and by taking vitamin D supplements.

However, you should know that it is very important how you take the vitamin. Recent research in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests that how you get your daily dose may be just as important as the vitamin itself.

Scientists have found that the benefits of vitamin D directly depend on how much fat you eat with each meal. The study involved three groups of people who consumed three different types of snacks: fat-free, low-fat snacks and high-fat snacks.

At the same time, the study participants also took a supplement of 50,000 units of vitamin D-3. This is a very large dose used clinically in patients who prefer to take the supplement once a month instead of a daily dose. The researchers used a shock dose in the study because it leads to an easily detectable increase in blood vitamin D levels, explains study author Dr Bess Dawson-Hughes. For healthy young people, a dose of 600-800 units daily is usually sufficient, she says.

What are the results of the research? The group of people who consumed a high-fat meal showed 32% greater absorption of vitamin D, compared to the group who consumed a fat-free snack.

Like other vitamins such as A, E, and K, vitamin D is fat soluble, so your body needs fat in food to be able to absorb these vitamins. To make sure you’re getting enough of them, try including foods like eggs, avocados, flaxseeds, or full-fat cheese and yogurt in your menu. As a rule, milk and milk products contain more vitamin D.

The fact that more and more people are well aware of the benefits of this vitamin is proven by a study done 6 years ago. Then it turns out that Americans spent 235 million dollars on nutritional supplements, containing the vitamin, and only 7 years before that they spent only 40 million dollars.