Our bodies make vitamin D when our skin is exposed to sunlight. In addition, foods such as oily fish, egg yolks, and red meat also provide some vitamin D. However, these foods are still not guaranteed to meet your daily vitamin D requirements. Therefore, most people would benefit from a daily vitamin D supplement, and it would especially be beneficial to individuals with limited sun exposure and those with darker skin tones.
The two most common types of vitamin D supplements are vitamin D2, which comes from plants, and D3, which comes from animals and is also better at improving vitamin D status. Read on to find out what benefits using a vitamin D supplement might have for you.
1. Vitamin D Supports Bone Health
Vitamin D is essential for bone health due to its role in calcium metabolism. Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the bones, with calcium salts making up about 65% of bone material.
There are three main ways vitamin D influences calcium levels in the body. First, vitamin D enhances calcium absorption in the gut from your diet. Your body needs a constant supply of calcium from your diet to keep your bones strong and prevent them from becoming brittle. Secondly, vitamin D reduces the amount of calcium lost through urine in the kidneys. Finally, vitamin D enhances the addition of calcium from the blood to the bones.
Children with low vitamin D levels have an increased risk of developing bone deformities like rickets, and adults have an increased risk of osteoporosis, a condition characterized by low bone mass. This happens because your body mobilizes calcium from the bones when blood calcium levels are abnormally low.
2. Vitamin D Can Boost Immune Function
Vitamin D supplementation can improve your body’s ability to fight against infections such as respiratory illnesses. For instance, scientists believe that the reason for the higher incidence of colds during the winter months is due to a drop in vitamin D levels resulting from reduced sun exposure.
Vitamin D status has also been shown to be a risk factor for tuberculosis. In fact, the vitamin was unknowingly used to treat tuberculosis for decades. Patients’ symptoms improved after regular exposure to sunlight, but health professionals at the time wrongly assumed that the sun had a direct effect on the virus.
Another indicator that vitamin D has a role in immune function is the presence of vitamin D receptors on some immune cells. The presence of these receptors shows that these cells respond to the presence of vitamin D in the blood.
3. Vitamin D Supports Dental Health
Due to Vitamin D’s role in calcium and phosphorus metabolism, it has a large influence on the health of your teeth. The enamel, which is the hard outer layer of the teeth, is mainly composed of calcium and phosphorus—salts that make the enamel hard and enable it to protect the more fragile inner layers of the teeth.
Individuals with poor vitamin D status are more likely to suffer from dental caries and periodontitis, or gum disease. A study of over four thousand adults aged between 20 and 80 years found that individuals who were severely deficient in vitamin D were nearly 2.5 times more likely to have cavities and other oral health issues. Another 7-year-long study found that children of mothers who were vitamin D deficient during pregnancy were more likely to develop dental problems later in life.
4. Vitamin D Boosts Mental Health
Vitamin D might be able to improve your mental well-being. One of the earliest signs that vitamin D could play a role in mental health was seasonal depression. In 1984, after looking at over thirty years of research, Norman Rosenthal, MD, and colleagues found that a significant portion of the population showed variations in mood as the seasons changed. The increase in the rates of depression during the winter months caused scientists to speculate that low vitamin D levels caused by reduced sun exposure could be the underlying reason.
Since then, more evidence has been found to support the claim that vitamin D influences mental health, and supplementation of vitamin D has also been shown to be an effective treatment for depression in certain groups of people.
However, the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in the treatment of depression is still debatable, since mental health is affected by so many factors. It is possible that depression correlates with low vitamin D levels because symptoms such as social isolation can lead to less time spent outdoors—and therefore less sun exposure. A lack of self-care can also cause depressed people to consume food with low nutritional value, leaving them at higher risk of vitamin D deficiency.
5. Vitamin D Supports Heart Health
Another reason you might want to take a vitamin D supplement is for your heart. Research shows that individuals with poor vitamin D status have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular conditions such as atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, and heart failure.
One study found that vitamin D insufficiency is associated with stiff arteries. Furthermore, a meta-analysis of studies with a total of over 280,000 participants showed that there is also a significant relationship with blood pressure. The mechanism through which vitamin D affects heart health isn’t yet understood, however. Some scientists believe that the vitamin improves the elasticity of the walls of the arteries, while some suggest that it prevents deposits of calcium in the arteries.
6. Vitamin D Supports Cognitive Health and Function
The brain is another surprising organ with vitamin D receptors, and their presence is an indicator that vitamin D may have a significant role to play in brain activity. Several meta-analyses of studies show that low vitamin D levels are a risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
More research in humans is necessary to understand the way this vitamin affects brain health and function. However, animal studies on the action of vitamin D on the brain are highly promising. A study in rats found that vitamin D increases the production of neurotransmitters—the chemicals used to transfer nerve impulses and signals in the body.
7. Vitamin D Can Promote Weight Loss
If you’re looking to shed a few pounds, vitamin D may be just what you need to reach your goal faster. Weight loss studies show that individuals with better vitamin D status lose weight faster than their counterparts with lower levels.
One study on obese women found that those who supplemented with vitamin D lost more weight than those who had low vitamin D status. The study found that the women who took calcium and vitamin D supplements consumed less fat—resulting in faster weight loss.
The findings suggest vitamin D and calcium may have an effect on appetite and hunger control. The higher occurrence of vitamin D deficiency in obese individuals might also be an indicator that vitamin D is essential to maintaining a healthy weight. However, it’s also possible that the poor vitamin D status may simply be a sign of poor diet quality overall.
8. Vitamin D Can Improve Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms
While the evidence is still premature, vitamin D seems to have an effect on diabetes. The vitamin is believed to improve type 1 diabetes by stimulating insulin production in the pancreatic cells. A study on rat cells found that adding vitamin D to insulin-producing cells resulted in increased production of the hormone.
Vitamin D may also be able to improve type 2 diabetes by boosting insulin sensitivity. Supplementation of vitamin D has been shown to improve blood sugar control in individuals living with type 2 diabetes. One study on an elderly population with metabolic disorders found that vitamin D supplementation resulted in a significant decrease in blood glucose levels after only three months.
By stimulating insulin production and improving insulin sensitivity, vitamin D might be able to help prevent sharp blood sugar spikes after meals. So if your blood sugar control is compromised by diabetes or another condition such as pregnancy or obesity, it might be worth speaking with your doctor about incorporating a vitamin D supplement into your diet.
Conclusion
It’s important to know that the role of Vitamin D in the body goes beyond bone health. It can have a significant impact on other areas of health such as immunity, oral health, mental health, cognitive function, cardiovascular risk, and weight loss.
The scientific evidence for the role of vitamin D in some of these conditions is still premature but what has been proven is that having a poor vitamin D status puts you at a higher risk of developing certain illnesses. You can therefore enjoy a number of health benefits by improving your vitamin D status. Since food isn’t a reliable source, and it’s recommended to avoid direct sun exposure to minimize your risk for skin cancer, a high-quality supplement is the next best option if you want to achieve healthy vitamin D levels.
