What makes vitamin D the odd one out?

People say there’s an exception to every rule.

In the case of vitamins, that exception is vitamin D.

You see a vitamin is defined as a molecule that is required by your body, but cannot be created from other things. Now you’ve probably already guessed, or already know, that vitamin D breaks that definition. With enough exposure to sunlight, your body can produce all the vitamin D it needs.

That begs the question, if I just need sunlight then why even bother thinking about vitamin D? Well vitamin D is incredibly important and even if you’re not a vampire, there’s a decent chance you’re not getting enough.

But first, why do we need vitamin D?

The longstanding answer to that question would be it’s good for your bones! You might be more familiar with hearing about how great calcium is for your skeletal strength, but vitamin D plays a crucial role in maintaining the optimal levels of calcium and another mineral, phosphate, which are both needed for bone mineralisation (the process through which your skeleton gains strength and structure).

More recently, the importance of vitamin D to our immune systems has come to light. And it appears as though vitamin D plays a key role in both the body’s innate and adaptive immune systems! The actual impact on real health outcomes has yet to be determined, but some research suggests that vitamin D supplementation can help prevent respiratory infections and aid in recovery.

Hopefully you can start to see why and how vitamin D is so important to your health! Next week we’ll look at why there’s a good chance you might not be getting enough!