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The following article is offered in support of any prudent nutrition and health program. The D vitamin is the only vitamin that is not attained from foods that are eaten. Instead, the D vitamin is really obtained by sunlight on the skin. There has been a great deal of newspaper and tv coverage about the risks of getting too much sunshine but it is essential that the skin is exposed to sunlight to obtain the highly recommended daily 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 undesirable side effects from the amount of ultra-violet light received. The most crucial function of the D vitamin is to help control how much calcium is assimilated from food. The majority of the calcium is used to build sturdy teeth and bones but it is at the same time required 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 adequate calcium in the blood to perform these tasks. Other functions that require the D vitamin relate to the immune system and it is thought that it is also a contributing component in decreasing 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 absorption 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 exact same way as the other D vitamins and is the type used to build the bulk of D vitamin dietary supplements.
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