Yes, Vitamin D Is Really Important!

If you’re not taking Vitamin D, you probably should be. Did you know that most Americans are deficient in vitamin D? There’s simply not enough dietary intake these days. Even if you have enough, the body requires sunlight to convert vitamin D into its active form, so if you don’t get enough sun, you probably don’t have enough vitamin D.

Most of us relate vitamin D to bone health, but Vitamin D is also important in maintaining cardiovascular health and blood sugar balance. Vitamin D perhaps plays its most important role in immunity. Our immune cells like B cells, T cells and antigen-presenting cells all have vitamin D receptors. As the receptors are expressed, the cells are all capable of synthesizing the active vitamin D metabolite,  the active form of vitamin D that the body needs. This is why deficiency in vitamin D is associated with not only higher susceptibility to infection but also increased autoimmunity. 

Vitamin D’s crucial role became extremely clear during the pandemic, when people with higher levels of vitamin D generally did not succumb to the virus. Once synthesized, the body uses the active form of vitamin D to boost immune activity and maintain a normal inflammatory balance. It also helps maintain normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus, two minerals that are key to many body functions. I see many patients who, for a variety of reasons, don’t maintain adequate vitamin D levels. For example, my elderly patients often have absorption problems, as do my patients who are overweight because elevated BMI impairs vitamin D circulation. I recommend they take a vitamin D supplement, and even better, take a supplement that contains vitamin D as well as other important nutrients.