Does your body Require More Vitamin D in Winters?

Humans need vitamin D to keep healthy and to fight infections. The irony is that in winter when people need vitamin D the most, most of us are not getting enough. Our immune system has vitamin D receptors, meaning vitamin D is required for the proper functioning of our immune system. In times of winters when we are deprived of sunlight, voluntarily or involuntarily, it is important to make sure we do get the vitamin.

How and why to get your vitamin D?
Vitamin D is called the sunshine vitamin since it is made in the skin after exposure to the sun. The same UVB rays that cause a sunburn also make vitamin D. Sunscreen, darker skin pigmentation, clothing, and reduced daylight in winter diminish the skin’s ability to make vitamin D. In the winter, in addition to high vitamin D food, adults should take additional vitamin D from foods and/or supplements. Your body only needs 15 to 20 minutes of sunlight to absorb enough vitamin D, and that is all your body can absorb at one time. So, after 15 minutes in the sun, your body starts to dispose of the extra vitamin D. More specifically, if you are in the sun for an extended period, you need to wear sunscreen because you will not be absorbing vitamin D the entire time.

vitamin D plays an important role in maintaining health in the gastrointestinal tract. Higher levels of vitamin D reduce susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease and Crohn’s disease, gut and lung infections in animals and people. In the winter, people have a reduced ability to make vitamin D when they go outside. Vitamin D helps you absorb calcium from your diet, but when vitamin D is too high, calcium levels in the blood go up and that can lead to kidney disease. By consuming more vitamin D during the winter your gut microbes will be healthier and you’ll be more resistant to infection and inflammation year-round.

Over to you.
We are aware that vitamin D helps develop our core bone health, but the same vitamin also helps to develop our immune system and fight infections. In winters we are also deprived of sunlight so the experts suggest getting natural vitamin D as much as possible while also confusing some vitamin D supplements to meet our daily goal of the vitamin. This consumed vitamin will help keep our gut disease-free and unsure diversity in your cut while also maintaining a good bone health