Vitamin D’s Powers to Ageing Well
Vitamin D’s essential function of facilitating the absorption of calcium is all-important for the wellbeing of our bones.
Imagine watching one of Sir David Attenborough’s remarkable documentaries showcasing the dazzling magnificence of the natural world coupled with the vibrant brilliance of the creatures that inhabit its surrounds, only this time the focus of the cameras is sunlight and the birthing of vitamin D.
With Attenborough’s giftfor generating wondrous intimate images, he would probably station a micro-camera on our skin, witnessing the evolution of the cholesterol molecule, located on the surface of our bodies, into a basic vitamin D substance, as a result of the sun’s powerful incandescence. His ability to achieve the most astounding up-close vistas would allow us to observe its journey to the liver, where it undergoes a further refinement until it travels to the kidney and other parts of our body, completing the final stage of its assembly to the omnipotent master hormone that orchestrates the vital life-sustaining activities of cells all around our bodies.
Vitamin D’s essential function of facilitating the absorption of calcium is all-important for the wellbeing of our bones. A testament to its scale of influence, vitamin D also has a powerful impact on our immune system by dramatically upscaling its firepower while also modulating its capacity to turn against us, a feature of autoimmune disease, lowers our blood pressure and cholesterol, positively impacts our heart function, boosts our mood and cognitive function, helps to prevent a range of cancers and might even allow us to live longer, healthier lives. In other words, calling it a vitamin is doing this powerful protein a massive disservice.
In addition to manufacturing vitamin D, the sun’s powers extend to making another beneficial substance called nitric oxide, which lowers our blood pressure. The sun’s rays also provide a protective shield against the covid virus and autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis. The problem is we’ve evolved to become indoor creatures only illuminated by artificial light and the damaging rays of our smartphones and computers. We’re starved of the health-promoting benefits of the sun’s luminescence, a practice we’re unlikely to modify anytime soon.
To obtain sustainable amounts of daily vitamin D, Michael Holick, an American expert on its capabilities, suggests that we need to expose a reasonable amount of our upper bodies and that our skin needs to become a pinkish colour before you know that we have remained in the sun for long enough. Unless you’re a devoted beachgoer, this recommendation would appear to be scarily excessive. For those who like their health advice provided in more scientific bite-sized portions, a free app called dminder will let you know how much vitamin D you can derive from baring your skin to the sun’s rays for a defined period of time each day. Because we’ve been imbued with a massive fear of developing sun-induced cancers, our desire to cover up means that most of us will simply not be paying much attention to this app or Holick’s sage directive to achieve the level of vitamin D that looks after us.
Apart from basking in the illuminating glow of the sun’s radiance, vitamin D is also found in fish with the skin on, but not shellfish or crustaceans. Small amounts are also present in eggs, fortified milk and meat. But relying on our diets to provide us with anywhere close to the amount of vitamin D that would meet our needs is just not possible. To mimic nature’s wisdom, ingesting supplementary vitamin D would appear to be the way forward for many of us but it’s an initiative that’s unlikely to see the light of day because most of us are blissfully unaware of the necessity to commence this endeavour and health authorities, although they might be aware of the communal need, aren’t broadcasting any recommendations.
Just how much vitamin D we should be taking is up for debate. Local health experts suggest that we should maintain our vitamin D levels at 70 nmol/L. To achieve this, we would need to take somewhere in the range of 1000–4000 IU daily. Other experts assert that this amount of vitamin D might be sufficient to look after our bones but if we are going to aim for its more herculean capacity to empower our immune systems, turbocharge our hearts, enliven our brains and possibly prevent a whole range of cancers, then we need to drive our vitamin D levels up to 120 nmol/L, which might demand a significantly higher supplementary dose.
Either way, it’s sad to consider that what once was one of nature’s and the sun’s most powerful contributions to our wellbeing is now only really suitable in a capsule.
This article is featured in Wellbeing Magazine Issue 222
