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How does vitamin D affect immune health?

Vitamin D is necessary for the proper functioning of your immune system, which is your body’s first line of defense against infection and disease.

This vitamin plays a critical role in promoting immune response. It has both anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory properties and is crucial for the activation of immune system defenses.

Vitamin D is known to enhance the function of immune cells, including T-cells and macrophages, that protect your body against pathogens.

In fact, the vitamin is so important for immune function that low levels of vitamin D have been associated with an increased susceptibility to infection, disease, and immune-related disorders.

For example, low vitamin D levels are associated with an increased risk of respiratory diseases, including tuberculosis, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as well as viral and bacterial respiratory infections.

What’s more, vitamin D deficiency has been linked to decreased lung function, which may affect your body’s ability to fight respiratory infections.

In summary, vitamin D is critical for immune function. A deficiency in this nutrient may compromise immune response and increase your risk of infection and disease.

What is vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that functions like a steroid hormone in the body.

There are two forms of vitamin D in the diet:

• Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol): found in some mushrooms.
• Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol): found in oily fish, fish liver oil and egg yolks.

D3 is the more powerful of the two types, and raises blood levels of vitamin D almost twice as much as D2.

Large amounts of vitamin D can also be made in your skin when it is exposed to UV-rays from sunlight. Any excess vitamin D is stored in your body fat for later use.

Every cell in your body has a receptor for vitamin D. This vitamin is involved in many processes, including bone health, immune system function and protection against cancer.

How Much Vitamin D Should You Take?

How much vitamin D you need depends on many factors. These include age, race, latitude, season, sun exposure, clothing and more.

Recommendations from the US Institute of Medicine suggest that an average daily intake of 400–800 IU, or 10–20 micrograms, is adequate for 97.5% of individuals but a daily vitamin D intake of 1000–4000 IU, or 25–100 micrograms, should be enough to ensure optimal blood levels in most people.

What Are The Main Sources of Vitamin D?

• Sun exposure.
• Supplements.

Vitamin D intake is generally quite low, since very few foods contain significant amounts.

Foods that contain vitamin D include fatty fish like salmon, as well as fish liver oils.

Egg yolks also contain small amounts, and in some countries milk and cereals are enriched with vitamin D.

This entry was posted on April 23, 2020 at 3:38 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.