With our new beautiful British summer, how do you top up your vitamin D?

An update was truly required in the light of recent events!

So here it goes.

Summer 2019.

Are you feeling like I do...?
I am sure many of you in the UK do too.

I am talking about the sun!
Where has it been hiding for more of the past year?
Where are the warm summer days gone?
​Will the crisp, dry, sunny winter days ever come back?

I believe there has not been a better time to talk about the weather.
As the Gulf Stream and the Jet Stream become weaker and weaker, evaporated waters from the warm seas are now spiralling (and stagnating) over the United Kingdom and bringing as much rain in just a couple of hours as in a month, with flooding — never seen before on such scale — in many parts of the countries. Trains are severely delayed. Some roads and motorways are closed to the circulation. The growth of fungi has exploded exponentially. Bacteria are bathing in what has become their paradise.
BUT... Walls impregnated with incessant rain are now so damp, that the growth of fungi and mycotoxin exposure has reached a critical level.

Did you know that mycotoxin toxicity is a great concern for health?
Because many people are exposed to these toxins every single day of their life, even during their sleep -- unless the problem is tackled hands-on, which often involves grand-scale DIY (e.g. removing the contaminated walls or parts of, removing and replacing contaminated insulation (or actually insulating walls or roofs since many households in the UK are still not insulated), or paying specialists to assess the level of contamination in your home and find the spots where fungi and bacteria are thriving, which more often than not, are tucked away behind partition walls, skirt boards, curtains, behind wardrobes, headboards and furniture, potentially anywhere in a bathroom and away from sight).

Back to Vitamin D...
Are you going away for a summer vacation?
What about a winter sun holiday?

Are you planning to..?

If not, you may be deficient in vitamin D and even more so during the longer, darker winter months.
It is time to top up your vitamin D, especially in the early hours of the morning. Better yet, walk barefoot on the grass, weather permitting (also known as grounding).
​If you are in a country where the sun only blesses you with just a couple of hours each day in winter, you may benefit from supplementing with vitamin D. It is also important to note that not everyone is exposed to the sun in the same way. Depending on your geographic position, sun rays may hit your skin at a different angle, and the angle is important in the way that it dictates how long you can stay in the sun.

According to the Vitamin D Council, considering your location is vital: "In the southern United States, in places like Florida, your body can produce vitamin D most of the year, while in more northern places, like New York City or Boston, you can’t produce much vitamin D from November through March. If you live even further north, like in Edmonton, Canada, you can’t produce vitamin D from October through April. These times are even longer (by a month or two) if you’re skin type is darker." This is also applicable to the UK, particularly Scotland and Ireland, and other northern countries such as Sweden, Norway and more.[1]
​
Are you supplementing?

Only buy from a trusted company and follow the dosage given on the label.
​Many companies offer vegan alternatives and also convenient sublingual sprays, which means you spray once under your tongue for greater assimilation, bypassing the digestion altogether.

Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption in the digestive tract and maintains adequate serum calcium and phosphate concentrations for the normal mineralisation of bones. Vitamin D is also needed for bone growth and bone remodelling. Deficiency in vitamin D may become a real problem. Bones can become thin, brittle, or misshapen.
Vitamin D can help prevent rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults, and osteoporosis in elderly people (together with calcium).

Vitamin D plays many other roles in the body, such as modulation of cell growth, and neuromuscular and immune function, and has a direct effect on inflammatory processes.
​Many genes encoding proteins that regulate cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis are modulated in part by vitamin D.[2]
Many cells have vitamin D receptors, but many people may have faulty genes and may, therefore, require a better approach to vitamin D and how to maximise intake and use by the body by discussing DNA test results with a qualified health practitioner.

It is often recommended to take 10 micrograms (400IU) per day to prevent deficiency during the winter month.(3)

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE ROLE THAT VITAMIN D PLAYS IN ALMOST EVERY PATHWAY IN THE BODY.

Summer 2020.

I have officially push the "on" button, 3 times!!!
Never in my entire life would I ever thought to put the heating on in summer while not in an artic region.
I feel comforted in the fact that I can hear the central heating running from the neighbours above. Even buses have the heating on. Not so sure about trains, I avoid going to town altogether (I don’t do well surrounded by “muzzled zombies”).

Anyway...
Health authorities the world around are advising us to stay indoors, wear masks (even in the safety of our homes, and even when having sex. I kid you not!!!),[4] to social distance and sanitise our hands all day long.

While summer is not as bad as in 2019, it is much cooler and wetter than it should and by staying indoors, you are sure to see your level of vitamin D dropping dangerously low. Vitamin D, again, is essential to building resilience and a strong immune system. Vitamin D, in fact, is so important the body has to produce it itself to prevent deficiencies. However, in some parts of the world, like the UK, we are not exposed to enough sun during the summer months to keep optimum levels in winter (vitamin D is stored in adipose tissue or fat cells).

So, it is important to remember that (especially during this pandemic) we need to look after our health and our immune system.

A quick note - The number of alledged deaths compiled on all health authorities’ websites shows that only 6% of cases are directly the result of the viral infection. In Congress, the CDC agreed that the numbers of deaths were (are) inflated for insurance claim purposes, as practitioners are paid more to attend a virus case).[5,6]
It is also important to remember that in most cases, reported cases of the virus were from people with 1, or3, or more chronic diseases, and so already in poor health (due to poor diet and poor lifestyle, chronic stress and poor sleep routines) and the preys of polypharmacy..
It is thus vital to make sure your intake of micronutrients (minerals and vitamins) is optimal, including vitamin D (and vitamin A, Bs, C, E, K, magnesium, and antioxidants).

Spring 2022

It appears that a pattern similar to 2021 (and 2020) is repeating itself. The end of April and the beginning of May are warmer than record shows and then leave way to a very wet, colder summer. So how do you top up your vitamin D, when the window to which you can expose your skin to sunlight is so small.

Additionally, in the UK, the angle to which the sun rays are hitting our skin is not optimal for vitamin D production. Furthermore, a large bunch of the population has SNPs (genetic polymorphisms) on vitamin D receptor sites and so may not be efficiently producing enough health-supporting levels of vitamin D.

To help you with better understanding the role of vitamin D and how to top up your levels throughout the year, I will be giving a free webinar for anyone to join sometimes in May or June.

For date and updates, follow us on facebook @nutrunity

— https://www.facebook.com/NutrunityUK

References:

​1. https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-do-i-get-the-vitamin-d-my-body-needs/#.Xcf-DC2cbUI
2. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/
3. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-d
4. ​https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=634736287022063&extid=0vM3akG5Dc311KBG
5. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=847114559026961&extid=mPp7lobNlTOcerND
​6. ​https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=342084996796776&extid=1PZON6TvrgKswkUz