Vitamin D is known as the sunshine vitamin. This is because sunlight is the best source of this vitamin. Our body gets the Vitamin D not from any of its diet components but from exposure to sunlight. This does not mean that food does not contain the vitamin but the quantity of the vitamin in food items is very minimal and would not suffice to fulfill our body’s requirement for Vitamin D. The ideal recommended intake per day is 600IU. Exposure to sunlight for just about 30 minutes, as a daily routine, could fetch us almost 15 times more than the recommended value.

 

Now to answer the question what does Vitamin D do, we need to deeply analyze its effects on our body. Most of us are aware of the fact that Vitamin D prevents rickets of bones but is that all or is there more to the functionality of this vitamin. What does vitamin D do actually?

Vitamin D is fat soluble. That means the vitamin gets dispersed and gets stored in fats. This facilitates it to act as a steroid hormone. What does vitamin D do as a steroid hormone? As a steroid hormone Vitamin D actively participates in gene alteration and expression. This is because it is present in the cell nucleus and can turn on or turn off the genes and their expression in humans. Deficiency in vitamin D therefore can cause serious problems with genes. Less of the vitamin leads to a deficiency in steroid hormone and this can lead to some major diseases and gene implications.

 

What does vitamin D do when it takes up the role of fighting diseases in our body? Well the good effects of vitamin D can be found in the prevention and fighting of the following diseases:-

 

•             Heart disease chances may come down

•             Probability of being affected by cancer is reduced

•             It may fight osteoporosis

•             Helps maintain good immune system

•             It could fight depression

•             It has been shown to reduce acne

•             Aids weight loss

•             Prevents muscle weakness caused by pathological factors

•             Helps fight diabetes type II

 

If you feel that you are not being exposed to enough sunlight, then it is better to get yourself tested for vitamin D levels in your body immediately. This is because there would be no surfacing symptoms to warn you against the falling levels of vitamin D within your body to take preventive action. By the time one realizes the fact it may have become too late.

 

What does vitamin D do in kids? The vitamin is the main reason to prevent the occurrence of rickets in kids. Rickets is associated with the leg and hand bones of a kids and leads to bowing of child’s leg bones. Rickets also cause wrists and ankles to swell and leads to very poor gain in weight. Vitamin D can help prevent all of these in kids.