Benefits of vitamin D

Benefits of vitami
D

Most well known benefit of vitami
D in maintaining healthy bones — but did you know that vitami
D can even play a major role in preventing everything from schizophrenia to cancer?
Here, we give you the low-down on the sources of vitami
D and how much of the vitamin you should get.

Where do we get vitami
D?

The main source of vitami
D is sunlight. Vitamin D is called the 'sunshine vitamin' because it is formed in the skin through exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun. It is estimated that throughout the seasons, around 15 minutes exposure to the sun a few days a week is enough to provide the required amount of vitami
D. You can also get vitami
D through your diet — the main food sources being eggs, liver, milk and other dairy products, in addition to oily fish such as sardines, tuna and salmon.

So what should you do?

Firstly, don’t get excited, as being told that sunlight is good for you does not mean it give you the green light to peel off your clothes and do without sun block in order to get hours of unprotected exposure to the sun! The risk of skin cancer from the sun is real, and so you should only stay in the sun for as long as is safe and necessary. Fair-skinned people only need around 15 minutes of direct sunlight to produce enough vitami
D to last for several days. And it’s not suggested that this exposure to the sun has to be every day; instead, a few short exposures a week is considered to be plenty. It’s not hard to get your sun exposure if you try to fit it around your daily routine.

After all health is wealth