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The following article is offered in support of any prudent nutrition and health program. The D vitamin is the one vitamin that is not obtained from foods that are ingested. Instead, the D vitamin is in reality obtained by sunlight on the skin. There has been a great deal of media coverage about the risks of getting too much sunshine but it is very important that the skin is exposed to sunlight to obtain the highly recommended every day allowance of the D vitamin. In fact, the amount of time that a person has to spend in the sun to receive a sufficient dose of the D vitamin is quite small and just a few minutes a day will be sufficient and not have any damaging effects from the amount of ultra-violet light picked up. The most important function of the D vitamin is to help regulate how much calcium is absorbed from food. The greater part of the calcium is used to build solid teeth and bones but it is at the same time needed to send messages along the nerves and to help muscles, such as the heart muscles, to contract. It is the D vitamin that ensures that there is always sufficient calcium in the blood to perform these tasks. Other functions that require the D vitamin relate to the immune system and it is believed that it is also a contributing factor in reducing the danger of contracting cancer and, in particular, colorectal cancer. The variant of the D vitamin that is formed under the skin is known as vitamin D3, or cholecalciferol. This D vitamin is created when the ultraviolet in the sunlight reacts with a type of cholesterol that is found under the skin naturally. The D3 is converted into a more active form of the d vitamin in the liver and is then diverted to where it is needed the most. Some of the D vitamin stays in the liver and kidneys to help reabsorb the calcium from the blood. The rest of the D vitamin is dispersed to the bones to help them retain their calcium and the intestines to aid intake of calcium from food. Even though the majority of the D vitamin is formed through the exposure of the skin to sunlight there are some foods that do contain some of the vitamin naturally. This form of the D vitamin is known as vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol. This is used in the same way as the other D vitamins and is the type utilized to build the bulk of D vitamin dietary supplements.
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