Taken by Alex Webb
Vitamin D is an essential metabolite for our body (1). It is
important because it helps to keep the amount of calcium in our body at the
right levels (1). It is key to have the right amount of vitamin D in body
because too much or too little has negative effects (1). If you have too much
vitamin D, hypervitaminosis D, it leads to having too much calcium in your
blood, hypercalemia (2, 3). If you have too little then you do not have enough
calcium for your bones to develop properly (1, 4). In adults it can lead to
osteoporosis and in children it can lead to Rickets disease (1, 4). You can get
vitamin D from fish oils, liver, vitamin D supplements and from sunlight (1, 4).
When your skin absorbs the UV rays from the sun a chemical reaction occurs that
creates vitamin D (1). The vitamin D that is created in the skin is absorbed
from the skin into the blood stream (4). The vitamin D that comes from food or
vitamin supplements is absorbed from the digestive system into the blood stream
(4). If you are taking a vitamin supplement it is important not to take more
than 1 000 international units per day (I.U./day), where 1 mg = 40 000 I.U. (1).
For adults it is thought that the average amount that should be taken is 600
I.U./day and for children 400 I.U./day (1, 2). You should check with your
doctor before deciding to use vitamin D supplements.
1. Labler, L.
(2011). Vitamin D. In: Ullmann’s
encyclopedia of industrial chemistry. Retrieved from ebrary database.
2. Wikipedia.
(2012). Hypervitaminosis D. Retrieved October 5, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_D
3. Hazardous
Substances Data Bank. (2012). Cholecalciferol. Retrieved October 5, 2012, from http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/f?./temp/~6xq0kO:1
4. Hirsch, A.
(2000). Vitamin D. In: Kirk-Othmer
encyclopedia of chemical technology.
Retrieved from ebrary database.
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