From the first mask in spring, to the first party in summer, to the first cup of milk tea in autumn, 2020 is really not easy. From time to time, we need some “small luck” to cheer our lives. As the weather turns cold, it’s time for the first vitamin D to appear in the winter.
In winter, the sunshine time is gradually shortened. Many hard workers get up early and get dark and hardly see the sun at both ends of the day. This will cause vitamin D deficiency to a certain extent, because human skin synthesizes vitamin D through sunshine.
In this sense, it is not only turnips and lamb belly that need tonic in winter, but also a few tablets of vitamin D.
Get more sun and eat more fish
Vitamin D is very important for maintaining our healthy bones, teeth and muscles. There may be no symptoms in the early stages of vitamin D deficiency and can only be detected by X-rays or diagnosis.
However, as time progresses, the situation may get worse, and symptoms of vitamin D deficiency will appear, such as dull pain in the pelvis, waist, legs, buttocks, and ribs. This pain is worse at night or when the bones are collided.
Lack of vitamin D is very dangerous for middle-aged and elderly people, because it easily leads to fractures or osteoporosis. In order to avoid vitamin D deficiency, daily preventive intake must be ensured to ensure bone density.
There are many ways to supplement vitamin D, the first is to bask in the sun. Vitamin D is called the “sunshine vitamin” because its amount in the human body is directly related to the number of sunny days in a year.
Sun exposure can help increase vitamin D, but too much sunlight may burn the skin and even cause skin cancer. Therefore, it is necessary to consider sun exposure for overall health.
Specifically, from March to October every year, people only need to stay outside for a while to get enough vitamin D.
In areas with insufficient sunlight or in cold seasons, supplementation is also a feasible way. We can maintain vitamin D levels through correct diet, such as adding seafood to the diet. The important thing is not to buy expensive species, but marine fish and oily fish, because fish oil contains a lot of vitamin D.
In addition, eggs, some fortified breakfast cereals, yogurt and margarine can also effectively supplement vitamin D.
In some high-latitude areas, there is insufficient sun exposure. In addition to food supplements, you can also choose to take supplements.
In 2012, Sally Davis, the then chief health officer of the British government, wrote to family doctors in the UK, urging them to recommend vitamin D supplements to all potential inadequate intakes.
The letter mentioned that in the United Kingdom, a “significant percentage” of the population may have insufficient vitamin D levels.
The British National Medical Service System NHS has also recommended that people need to supplement vitamin D appropriately when the sun is reduced in winter and people spend more time indoors.
Whether the good prescription is controversial
Studies have shown that vitamin D helps prevent infection. Studies have shown that when we have a cold, if we have sufficient vitamin D levels in the body, it helps to recover. Of course, the research evidence in this area sometimes has different results.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital recently published a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association Online Publication, suggesting that vitamin D can reduce the risk of cancer. The experiment observed 25,000 able-bodied patients in five years, including men over 50 and women over 55.
The scientists divided the participants into four groups: the first group was asked to take health medicine containing vitamin D and Omega-3 (a group of polyunsaturated fatty acids); the second group was given a combination of vitamin D and a placebo ; The third group is restricted from taking Omega-3; the fourth group is given a placebo. The doctor monitors these groups and conducts physical examinations on them every year.
Experimental results show that people who take health drugs have no effect on their cancer risk, but people who take vitamin D have a lower mortality rate in advanced cancer.
There are also studies that believe that vitamin D supplementation will improve immunity. Professor Adrian Martino of Queen Mary University of the United Kingdom led his team to specialize in the effects of vitamin D on health, and found that vitamin D can improve respiratory infections.
The original data analyzed by the research team came from 25 clinical trials in 14 countries, involving up to 11,000 patients. Researchers have found that daily or weekly vitamin D supplementation has a slight effect and can reduce the risk of respiratory infections, asthma and bronchitis.
However, there are also studies that believe that vitamin D supplements will not reduce the incidence of cancer, and comprehensive analysis points out that to reveal the association between vitamin D and mortality, more research is needed.
In addition, the causal relationship between cardiovascular disease and vitamin D needs to be further straightened out. Some experts even pointed out that vitamin D supplements are “a pseudo-vitamin for the treatment of pseudo-disease”, and the relevant lies are behind the $1 billion vitamin industry.
Regardless of the effect, too much
In addition to the controversy over the health effects, there is no strict conclusion about the amount of supplement.
The amount of vitamin D recommended by the British National Medical Service System is 10 micrograms per day for adults.
The British government recently announced that it will give free vitamin D supplements to more than 2.5 million elderly, weak, and frail high-risk people in England so that they can make up for their needs in the winter.
The recommendations in the United States and Canada are: adults take 15 micrograms of vitamin D daily.
In fact, the recommended intake of vitamin D is quite different. Some experts say that infants under 12 months of age should not exceed 25 micrograms per day, and children between 1 and 10 years old should not exceed 50 micrograms per day.
Adults should not exceed 100 micrograms per day. From 10 micrograms to 100 micrograms, such a big difference, the implicit conclusion may be-the impact of over-the-counter vitamin D intake on the body is probably not as great as expected.
However, there are also many people who are worried about excessive levels of vitamin D, believing that it may produce side effects, such as nausea and vomiting, which may be particularly unfavorable for some patients with chronic kidney disease.
However, there is no detailed study on the effect of long-term high-dose vitamin D on the human body. It is recommended that relevant populations, especially those with chronic kidney disease, consult their doctors regarding the dosage of vitamin D supplementation.
The current relatively accepted consensus is that the worst result of taking vitamin D supplements is money; the best choice for food supplements or sun exposure.
