Vitamin D deficiency is extremely common in the western world, a fear of the sun combined with overuse of sunscreen and lifestyles conducive of inside living mean that people are not getting enough Vitamin D.
Vitamin D deficiency can present as many ailments, hair loss, bone and back pain, poor immunity, depression/low mood, poor oral health, fatigue, muscle pain, osteoporosis, brain fog, increased risk of death from heart attack or stroke, severe asthma in kids, etc, etc.
This vitamin is made when sunlight hits cholesterol in our skin. Its a specific cholesterol, 7-dehydrocholesterol that when exposed to UVB – then to cholecalciferol and finally its processed in the liver and kidneys to active Vitamin D.Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that is composed of 5 different substances, two of which have been identified as being the most critical for humans. These are Vitamin D2 and Vitamin D3.
10 mins in the summer sun on our bare skin is enough to get our minimum requirements of 10 micrograms a day.
It can also be found in the liver of beef, egg yolks, fatty fish, cheeses and cod liver oils.
Vitamin D3 is much easier to get but Vitamin D2 can be an important source of Vitamin D when the sun isn’t shining (ie: winter).
One of the benefits of Vitamin D, is that it’s a fat soluble vitamin, meaning that excess is stored in your fat cells, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t need to worry about supply.
Actually just because it’s capable of storage- it still requires daily replenishment. That can be in the form of sunshine, or mushrooms.
You can super charge the amount of Vitamin D in mushrooms by leaving whole mushrooms (in particular shiitake) on the windowsill for two days before consuming.
This is an awesome way to boost your Vitamin D intake.
So remember, if you are heading outside leave your skin uncovered for 10 minutes to absorb the Vitamin D (if you have darker skin, you will require longer exposure).
Australian Grown Shiitake >