Vitamin D3 seems to be recommended but is from animal sources

[Guest guest]

What do you do when the D3 which is recommended as more efficiently

absorbed is from sheep (lanolin) and often comes in gelatin capsules?

This is a dilema for many of us. Ideas?

[Guest guest]

As you all probably know, Vitamin D2 is synthesized by plants. Vitamin D3 is synthesized by animals (including humans!) in the skin when it is exposed to ultraviolet-B (UVB) rays from sunlight or the diet. If you don't want to take gel caps filled with vitamin D3 derived from lanolin (I don't blame you there!), as little as 10 minutes of exposure to sunlight can provide enough Vitamin D to prevent deficiencies. It's harder in the winter to accomplish this, especially for those of us who live in colder climates and we haven't seen the sun in days due to blizzards and inversions, but it's not an impossible task. In the meantime, eat a balanced and varied diet with plenty of whole foods, and if necessary, choose products that have been fortified with Vitamin D2. D3 can pop up in unexpected places though, so make sure to check the labels! (Some varieties of orange juice have D3 in them for instance).There is an excellent full page article about

Vitamin D in the most recent EarthSave Intl quarterly newsletter. It isn't up on the website yet, but all past newsletters up through December 2007 are there, if you want to check out other veg related articles in the meantime ( www.earthsave.org ; right side of main page, under EarthSave Magazine) .euromixer <TJFronczak wrote: What do you do when the D3 which is recommended as more efficiently absorbed is from sheep (lanolin) and often comes in gelatin capsules? This is a dilema for many of us. Ideas?

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[Guest guest]

> As you all probably know, Vitamin D2 is synthesized by plants.

> Vitamin D3 is synthesized by animals (including humans!) in the skin

> when it is exposed to ultraviolet-B (UVB) rays from sunlight or the

> diet. If you don't want to take gel caps filled with vitamin D3

> derived from lanolin (I don't blame you there!), as little as 10

> minutes of exposure to sunlight can provide enough Vitamin D to

> prevent deficiencies.

 

 

Sunlight does cause Vit D synthesis, but there has to be sufficient

light intensity to accomplish this. Unfortunately in northern (or

southern) latitudes in the winter, sufficient light intensity may not

exist. For more info, see Holick MF. Environmental factors that

influence the cutaneous production of vitamin D. Am J Clin Nutr 1995;

61(3 Supplement): 638S-645S.

 

At least one study has been done in Boston, MA and demonstrated that

sufficient light intensity did not occur for endogenous vit D synthesis.

There is, however, some evidence that sufficient exposure during summer

months enables excess vitamin D to be stored (it's a fat-soluble

vitamin) for the winter months and can prevent deficiency.

 

Mary