What is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a crucial nutrient; absolutely essential for regulating the amount of calcium and phosphate you have in your body. Without these nutrients, your bones, teeth and muscle health will decline.¹

Ensuring you get the recommended dose of vitamin D is important for maintaining good health. The minimum recommended daily amount of vitamin D necessary is 800 IU (20mcg).²

A lack of vitamin D can impact both children and adults. Bone deformities such as rickets can occur in children with a vitamin D deficiency, and osteomalacia in adults can cause bone pain.¹

How do I get Vitamin D?

The best source of vitamin D is sunlight - it's widely known as the sunshine vitamin. As sunlight penetrates the skin, the UB V radiation is converted into vitamin D.³ Getting 10-30 minutes of midday sunlight a few times a week is the best way to get enough vitamin D.⁴

Through autumn and winter, the suns rays are weaker, making it much harder to get vitamin D naturally through sunlight. Increasing your intake of foods that contain vitamin D or taking a supplement can help you to avoid a deficiency. 

Although some foods naturally contain Vitamin D, many foods are fortified with it. Simply, this means vitamin D has been added to the food.⁵

Getting all the vitamin D you need from food sources is tough, so the NHS recommends taking a vitamin D supplement, particularly in autumn and winter when there is less sunlight.¹

Foods that naturally contain vitamin D:²

• Salmon
• Herring
• Sardines
• Halibut
• Mackerel 
• Canned tuna
• Egg yolks
• Mushrooms

Most commonly, foods fortified with vitamin D are breakfast cereals, orange juice, cow's milk, soy milk and oatmeal. (2) You can check the packaging to see if it has been fortified with vitamin D or other essential nutrients. 

Vitamin D Benefits

The benefits of vitamin D are hard to ignore. Without vitamin D the body struggles, so ensuring you get enough vitamin D can improve your health. 

As previously mentioned, vitamin D is essential for maintaining healthy teeth, bones and muscles.¹  Even if you consume the necessary amount of calcium, the body cannot properly absorb it without vitamin D. This renders calcium and phosphate essentially useless without the necessary amount of vitamin D.⁶

Vitamin D is also highly beneficial for the functioning of the immune system. Vitamin D stimulates the body's production of T-cells, essential for the immune system's function.⁷

Vitamin D ensures the immune system can adequately respond to infectious pathogens, which includes viruses, bacteria and fungus.⁷

Studies show that vitamin D also plays an important role in brain function. Vitamin D can reduce inflammation in the brain and protect neurons. These benefits will likely improve overall brain function and increase energy levels, alertness and response time.⁷ 

Vitamin D Deficiency Symptoms

Vitamin D deficiency symptoms can often be mistaken for other illnesses, as they are extremely common. 

Symptoms include:⁸

• Fatigue
• Trouble sleeping
• Bone pain
• Aching bones
• Low mood
• Depression
• Hair loss
• Muscle weakness
• Change in appetite
• Weakened immune system
• Pale Skin

You can ask your doctor to do a blood test to check if you are vitamin D deficient. The blood sample will then be tested to check for a deficiency. If you are deficient, you will likely be prescribed a supplement.⁸

How can Immune Boost help?

At The Gut Co, we have created a supplement including vitamin D that can help you to avoid a deficiency. The formula of Immune Boost contains 5 mcg of vitamin D3. 

With just one Immune Boost tablet a day, you can ensure you don't suffer from vitamin D deficiency and consume the array of nutrients in the powerful formula. 

As well as vitamin D3, Immune Boost contains Vitamins A and C. These 3 vitamins were selected for their antioxidative properties that shield us from DNA damage caused by free radicals. They also support the structural integrity of cells, including those that line the gastrointestinal tract, protecting us against viral infections and foreign pathogens. 

Immune Boost also helps your gut health. It is a gut-focused formula; 70% of the immune system is in the gut, meaning gut health is crucial for immune system function. 

Immune Boost contains multiple strains of probiotics, which add new strains of live bacteria into the gut, improving the diversity necessary for good gut health. The Immune Boost formula also contains Inulin, a fibre-rich prebiotic that feeds the beneficial bacteria in the gut, helping them to repopulate.

Inulin has the ability to draw water into the colon and soften stools, meaning it can help to regulate bowel function. Regular elimination of toxins through bowel movements can help clear toxins and pathogens from within the gut.

Conclusion

Vitamin D is crucial to health and well-being, and it's vital to ensure you are consuming the recommended daily dose, whether you are getting that from sunlight, food, supplements or a combination of these things. 

If you are worried you are deficient in vitamin D, contact your healthcare provider. Fixing the deficiency is easy, so don't suffer in silence!