Getting Enough Of Vitamin D
By Sam Cyrus

Vitamin D has a commonly role as making your bones and teeth strong, on the other hand, we can say as bone and teeth formation. This vitamin helps your body absorb the amount of calcium as an important mineral for bones and teeth. The normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus are maintained by the vitamin D. 

Vitamin D can be found in foods. The foods you have to consume to get the vitamin D are : fatty fish, eggs, liver, fortified cereal, fish oil and milk. Another important source of vitamin D is exposure to sunlight (ultraviolet rays).

The variant of the vitamin D that is formed under the skin is known as vitamin D3, or cholecalciferol. This vitamin D is created when the ultraviolet in the sunlight reacts with a type of cholesterol that is found under the skin naturally. The vitamin D3 is converted into a more active form of the vitamin D in the liver and is then diverted to where it is needed the most. Some of the vitamin D remains in the liver and kidneys to help reabsorb the calcium from the blood. The rest of the vitamin D is dispersed to the bones to help them retain their calcium and the intestines to aid absorption of calcium from food.

Even though the majority of the vitamin D is formed through the exposure of the skin to sunlight there are some foods that do contain some of the vitamin naturally. This form of the vitamin D is known as vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol. This is used in the same way as the other vitamin D and is the type used to create the majority of vitamin D supplements.

The vitamin D supplements are usually only needed by the elderly or those unable to go outside. Meanwhile, vitamin D supplements are very important for us because if we do not intake enough vitamins necessary for our bodies, it will substitute for the shortage of the amount of vitamin D in our system. Many times a good diet will be enough, but when it is not, the vitamin supplements will make sure that you intake enough vitamin D for you to be healthy. Dosage is quite small, at 5 to 10 ug per day. 

There has been a lot of media coverage about the dangers of getting too much sun but it is essential that the skin is exposed to sunlight to obtain the recommended daily allowance of the vitamin D. In reality, the amount of time that a person has to spend in the sun to receive a sufficient dose of the vitamin D is extremely small and just a few minutes a day will be sufficient and not have any adverse effects from the amount of ultra-violet light received.