The D vitamin is the only vitamin that is not obtained from foods that are consumed. Instead, the D vitamin is actually obtained by sunlight on the skin. There has been a lot of media coverage about the dangers of getting too much sun but it is essential that the skin is exposed to sunlight to obtain the recommended daily allowance of the D vitamin. In reality, the amount of time that a person has to spend in the sun to receive a sufficient dose of the D vitamin is extremely small and just a few minutes a day will be sufficient and not have any adverse effects from the amount of ultra-violet light received.
The most important function of the D vitamin is to help control how much calcium is absorbed from food. The majority of the calcium is used to build strong teeth and bones but it is also 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 risk of contracting cancer and, in particular, colon 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 remains 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 same way as the other D vitamins and is the type used to create the majority of D vitamin supplements.
Within the last half a century research has been carried out to study the association between calcium, vitamin D and its effects on cancer risk. In quest of this, scientists, in the 1950s, observed weather situations and health figures in warmer countries of the world to institute that more the sunshine, more is the supply of Vitamin D, which was the cause given for the lowest death rates from colon cancers in those countries. Since the 1950's studies have continued to establish a positive link between vitamin D and calcium and the prevention of cancer, this can be prostate cancer right through to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This is especially true in cases of cancers.
In recent times there has been new evidence released from studies about how calcium and vitamin D prevent cancer. Scientists and researchers at Harvard University set-up tests with women who had not gone through menopause, it showed woman with elevated levels of vitamin D and calcium have a lesser possibility of developing breast cancer than women with lesser levels of these nutrients. When Harvard researchers set-up the second study they came to the same conclusion, and confirmed that vitamin D and calcium supplements facilitate with the reduction of different kinds of cancer. These studies give us the proof we need to appreciate the benefits of calcium and vitamin D in regards to preventing cancer.
In 1932 a man named Otto Warburg won the Noble Prize and came up with the conjecture that cancer is caused by absence of oxygen in the body. An alkaline level of pH 7.4 in the blood stream must be kept to help retain the bodies free oxygen supply. To maintain the alkaline in the body you should consume a decent amount of minerals in your daily diet, too little mineral consumption can lead to cancer, arthritis and other unremitting diseases from fluids becoming acidic due to lack of oxygen.
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