November Starts ‘Vitamin D Winter’
November Starts ‘Vitamin D Winter’
Public health officials are becoming increasingly concerned about “Vitamin D Winter” — the period from November through February in most of North America where sunlight is too weak to initiate the natural production of “the sunshine vitamin” in the skin.
Because healthy vitamin D levels are now suspected to lower your risk of many forms of cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis and many other disorders, you need to know:
• Humans make 90 percent of their vitamin D naturally when skin is exposed to UVB in sunlight. • Sunlight isn’t strong enough during “Vitamin D Winter” in most of North America for any vitamin D to be made.
• The farther north you live, the longer “Vitamin D Winter” lasts. In parts of Canada, Vitamin D Winter lasts 6 months. • More than half of Americans and up to 97 percent of Canadians will be vitamin D deficient this winter!
• According to the Vitamin D Council, everyone needs to have their vitamin D blood level checked - a test called a calcidiol test. • Healthy blood levels of vitamin D are 125 nmol/L (or 50 ng/mL), according to the Vitamin D Council. If you live in a place where you absolutely cannot get UVB from sunlight in a non-burning fashion, you may need to consider taking a vitamin D supplement to prevent vitamin D deficiency. But UVB exposure to the skin is the body’s natural, intended and most productive way to make vitamin D.
Find out more at these web sites:
www.SunshineVitamin.org <http://www.sunshinevitamin.org/> www.VitaminDsociety.org <http://www.vitamindsociety.org/> www.VitaminDcouncil.org <http://www.VitaminDcouncil.org>
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