Scientists are finding many more benefits from Vitamin D than we once thought.

Here’s a little background on how Vitamin D is absorbed in the body:
Vitamin D is made in the skin. It is then absorbed into the body and converted into 25 hydroxy vitamin D in the liver. It then gets converted into the hormonal form of Vitamin D called 125 dihydroxy Vitamin D or Calcitrol.

Yes…Vitamin D is actually a hormone!

Calcitrol is made in the kidney and sends a chemical message to different parts of the body, including the bowel which helps absorb more calcium from the food we eat. This calcium goes to bone to help prevent fracture risk and osteoporosis.

But thats not all. We now know that Vitamin D has a protective role in diabetes, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, systemic lupus, thyroiditis and psoriasis.

Some studies are showing that Vitamin D increases muscle strength and reduces falls in the elderly by 20% at a dose of 400IU daily (JAMA 2004: 291: 1999).
And now research is growing stronger about Vitamin D’s protective effects against certain cancers.

Read more about this fascinating hormone.

Sunshine Vitamin May Help Prevent Cancer: ”
Scientists are excited about a vitamin again. But unlike fads that sizzled and fizzled, the evidence this time is strong and keeps growing. If it bears out, it will challenge one of medicine’s most fundamental beliefs: that people need to coat themselves with sunscreen whenever they’re in the sun. Doing that may actually contribute to far more cancer deaths than it prevents, some researchers think..”

(Via Daily News Central – Health.)