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Moringa Natural Health Center
Published in: Health

Why Are Most People Deficient in Vitamin D?

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I get asked often which vitamin or supplement is the most important to take daily throughout the year to increase energy, boost the immune system, and improve overall health.
It’s not surprising that Vitamin D is essential to keep your bones, muscles, and immune system strong. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble nutrient, which impacts your muscles, energy, sex hormones, bones, kidneys, and mood. This essential vitamin is not the only one your body needs to function optimally, however, vitamin D deficiency is found in 82% of people in America that varies from gender and race.
Vitamin D is unique in a way that you cannot get enough from a food source due to the individual’s gut malabsorption (leaky gut).

How do you know you are getting enough vitamin D?

In general, those who live up north are more likely to be deficient in Vitamin D. Aging is also one of the causes of vitamin D deficiency since the gut is compromised with age, hence, less absorption and digestion.

Symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency may include:

  • Fatigue
  • Recurrent infections
  • Chronic pain
  • General muscle pain and weakness
  • Muscle cramps
  • Joint pain
  • Anxiety
  • Insomnia

In addition, deficiency in vitamin D is associated with increased autoimmunity as well as increased susceptibility to infection. Since vitamin D is responsible for bone and joint health, it makes sense why you would experience the deficiency symptoms in bones and/or muscles.

Vitamin D supplementation orally varies from person to person depending on your current lab values and medical condition. However, liver toxicity from excess Vitamin D is associated with excess vitamin D because this fat-soluble vitamin is stored directly in the liver.

Vitamin D is very important that even children from age of 7 and above should be tested on a regular basis for deficiency.
According to the US National Library of Medicine, it is clear that vitamin D has important roles in the immune system in addition to its common effects on calcium and bones. Specifically Vit. D receptor is expressed on immune cells to prevent infections such as B cells, T cells, and antigen-presenting cells. Adequate Vitamin D can modulate the innate and adaptive immune responses to fight off viral infections.
​Our skin can make vitamin D from exposure to sunlight under certain circumstances. Studies show just 20 minutes of spending time outside tremendously reduces anxiety, enhances stamina, boosts the immune system, promotes weight loss, may prevent colds and flu, and improve overall mental health.
In fact, one study compared concentration between children with ADHD who played outside versus those who played inside, after school, and on weekends. Kids who spent time in nature reported fewer symptoms of ADHD, even when the exact same activities were compared.

Can you imagine what would happen to your health and happiness if you were to spend only 20 minutes in green, outdoor spaces daily?

It’s well known that vitamin D can be a tricky nutrient to get enough from foods because there are no nutrients in groceries with adequate vitamin D in them. The only way to get enough vitamin D is from the sun and/or oral supplementation.

However, it is best to spend 20 minutes outdoors because most people soak up between 80–90% of 10,000 IU sunshine vitamin D, adequate to maintain mental, emotional, and physical health.
It’s true that some people can make vitamin D more efficiently than others. In fact, people with dark pigment skin have less ability to produce enough vitamin D, while those with lighter skin pigment produce more readily due to easier absorption of sunlight.

If you want to learn more powerful tools to stay healthy and strong naturally then CLICK HERE to watch my video where I discussed 4 powerful foods you must eat daily to supercharge your energy, eliminate pain and inflammation for good!

Comment #replay when you watch my video so I can hop in there to answer your questions and give you a big shout out.

Citations:

Aranow C. Vitamin D and the immune system. J Investig Med. 2011 Aug;59(6):881-6. doi: 10.2310/JIM.0b013e31821b8755. PMID: 21527855; PMCID: PMC3166406.

Hewison M. Vitamin D and immune function: an overview. Proc Nutr Soc. 2012 Feb;71(1):50-61. doi: 10.1017/S0029665111001650. Epub 2011 Aug 18. PMID: 21849106.

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