Vitamin D: Benefits and Properties

What is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a family of complex chemical compounds that have the same functions: promoting healthy bones, maintaining a healthy immune system, supporting healthy muscle function, and supporting skin cell renewal. The most effective form of Vitamin D is thought to be D3, cholecalciferol, which occurs naturally in humans.²

Our bodies produce Vitamin D in the skin when we’re exposed to ultraviolet-B rays from the sun. That’s why it’s often called “the sunshine vitamin.” However, getting the amount of sunlight needed to produce enough Vitamin D can be a challenge depending on your lifestyle or where you live.²

Whether we get it from exposure to sunlight, food, or supplements, Vitamin D3 must be activated in the liver and kidneys, where it is transformed into a bioactive form of Vitamin D that the body can use.³

Vitamin D works as a nutrient, but it also has a role as a hormone. Most cells in the body have receptors that can be activated by Vitamin D, increasing or decreasing the activity of those cells. It’s in this way that Vitamin D helps support a healthy immune system, by helping it ramp up or down as needed.⁴

Benefits of Vitamin D

Vitamin D works hard to multitask and support your health in different ways—including bone and muscle health, immune health, and skin cell renewal.

Supports Healthy Bones 

Vitamin D helps build strong bones by increasing the amount of calcium and phosphorus absorbed through the intestines. But Vitamin D’s healthy bone benefits don’t stop there. Vitamin D also stimulates osteoblasts, a type of bone-building cell.⁴ Osteoblasts take minerals and collagen from the blood stream and help create new bone tissue.⁵ This process is also essential to the body’s ability to support healthy bones, including teeth.⁶

Supports Muscle Function 

Your muscles need Vitamin D, too. Vitamin D is necessary for muscles to contract and expand properly. Muscle tissues have receptors that Vitamin D can bind to. Once present, the Vitamin D can help transport calcium within cells to stimulate the growth of muscle fibers.⁷ ⁸ Muscle fibers allow us to move our bodies in the way that we need them to for everyday function. 

Supports Skin Cell Renewal 

The epidermis, or the top layer of our skin, is constantly regenerating and renewing new cells, since its exposure to the environment leaves it susceptible to damage. The way the epidermis regenerates is by bringing up cells from the lower layers of the skin. 

As Vitamin D binds to its receptors on skin cells, it helps synthesize the proteins that skin cells need to function as the top layer of the skin. Vitamin D also enhances calcium response in skin cells, further strengthening the outer layer of the cell.⁹⁻¹⁴

Maintaining A Healthy Immune System 

A healthy and effective immune system relies on Vitamin D. Vitamin D supports the growth and development of cells called macrophages that get rid of foreign cells.¹⁵ Vitamin D may also act as a hormone in the immune system, signaling lymphocytes like T and B cells to control their levels of activity. It’s in this way that Vitamin D allows the immune system to tailor its response.⁴ ¹⁵

Vitamin D also slows down the activity of specialized proteins called cytokines.⁴ Cytokines are an important part of the immune system’s tool kit, but they’re often overproduced.¹⁶ By slowing the production of cytokines, Vitamin D further promotes healthy immune function.

Vitamin D Deficiency 

You need Vitamin D daily for the health of your bones and immune system. Surprisingly, studies suggest that as many as one out of every four Americans have too little Vitamin D in their blood.¹ VÖOST is here to help fill those gaps!

Causes of Vitamin D Deficiency 

So why are so many of us unable to get the Vitamin D our bodies need? 

For many, the answer is simple—first, that we do not get enough Vitamin D from the foods we eat. Second, many of us don’t get adequate exposure to the sun’s rays because of our hectic lifestyles. If you can make it outside three times a week, it only takes 10 to 15 minutes under intense, midday sunlight to produce enough Vitamin D for good health.¹⁷  

For those that don’t live in a warm, sunny climate, sunlight may be hard to come by during cold, winter months. That’s where Vitamin D supplements like VÖOST can help fill the gap and keep your body running . 

How Much Vitamin D Do You Need Daily?

For healthy adults, the daily value of Vitamin D is 20 mcg, or 800 IU per day according to the FDA.¹⁸

How much Vitamin D a person needs may vary based on age, lifestyle, and overall health. 

What to Take with Vitamin D? 

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin. It’s absorbed more thoroughly if taken with a meal that contains some healthy dietary fat, such as omega-3 fatty acids.¹ ¹⁹ But that’s not all Vitamin D needs to do its job. The chemical processes that transform vitamins D2 and D3 into the active form of calcitriol require magnesium to work. In short, Vitamin D and Magnesium can make a great pair.²⁰ Luckily, VÖOST has both Vitamin D and Magnesium supplement to help you get your daily dose of this power pair.

VÖOST Vitamin D Supplements

VÖOST Vitamin D effervescent vitamin tablets are an effizzing amazing way to get Vitamin D to support bone, muscle, and immune health*. Dropping just one tablet into the water you’re already drinking turns it into a delicious blackberry peach flavored pick-me-up that is packed with invigorating nutrients that help you perform at your peak without any extra calories or sugar. Beyond supporting immune, bone, and muscle health.* Vitamin D also helps support skin cell renewal*, making this product an amazing multi-tasker! Just drop, fizz, and sip for a vitamin boost that works just as hard as you do!

How to Get More Vitamin D in Your Diet

You can get Vitamin D from the food you eat, especially in some seafoods. Many foods are fortified with vitamin D, meaning that vitamin D has been added. Milk and dairy products are often vitamin D fortified, as are some brands of orange juice. 

According to the US Department of Agriculture, these foods are the best sources of Vitamin D: 

5 Quick Vitamin D-Enriched Foods 

1. A couple of eggs—yolk included 

Order up! Whether you eat them sunny side up, over medium, or scrambled, eggs can get you a good amount of Vitamin D. One regular egg yolk contains 37 IU of vitamin D, about 5 percent of the daily amount recommended by the FDA. 

2. Salmon  

Seafood, anyone? Wild-caught salmon tends to have more vitamin D than farmed fish, with a 4-ounce fillet of wild-caught salmon having 803 IU of Vitamin D, over 100 percent of the daily value. Add some salmon to your plate for some extra Vitamin D!

3. Tuna  

Crack open a can of tuna for your Vitamin D boost! As a steak, in a salad, or in your sushi, tuna can help you get Vitamin D into your diet. Canned tuna typically has 229 IU of vitamin D in a 3-ounce serving, which is about 29 percent of the daily value. 

4. Sardines sprinkled on your favorite meal 

Sprinkle in a few sardines! Sardines are an underrated topping not just on your pizza, but also in your salads. A 3.8 ounce can of sardines has 178 IU of Vitamin D, almost 22 percent of your suggested daily amount.  

5. Mushrooms

Mushrooms easily go into so many of the meals we eat daily – in an omelet, sauteed as a side dish or our favorite sauces. Mushrooms that have been exposed to ultraviolet light are the only good source of non-fortified plant-based Vitamin D. Be aware that industrially grown mushrooms have very little Vitamin D, as they’re usually grown in the dark.  

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.