Vitamin D is a key nutrient for maintaining bone health, helping your body absorb calcium and phosphorous from foods like salmon, tuna, sardines, beef liver, eggs and mushrooms. You can produce Vitamin D naturally in your skin when exposed to sunlight; additionally it’s found in other sources such as fatty fish (salmon, tuna sardines) beef liver eggs and mushrooms.

Virtually everyone should strive to meet national recommended levels of vitamin D – 400 international units (IU) per day for infants and adults up to age 70.

1. It Keeps Your Bones Healthy

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble prohormone vitamin that aids the body’s absorption of calcium, an essential element in maintaining bone health and helping prevent osteoporosis and other related skeletal ailments. Vitamin D also regulates other cellular functions as well as supporting immune functions and maintaining immunity.

Most people can get enough vitamin D from food, but certain conditions make getting enough harder. People with darker skin produce more melanin which blocks UVB rays that enable your body to create vitamin D; as a result, those with darker skin typically have lower serum 25(OH)D levels than people with lighter skin (according to Harvard Health Publishing).

Other factors that can influence vitamin D levels include spending too much time indoors, being overweight or having certain health conditions. People undergoing gastric bypass surgery, for instance, are less likely to absorb vitamin D due to this procedure which involves cutting part of the small intestine out.

Your risk for disease increases if you don’t get enough vitamin D. According to one study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, taking 800 IU per day of vitamin D supplements for three years helped lower heart failure and stroke risks among adults with high cholesterol. Another showed taking these same doses lowered bone fracture risks for healthy men and women – but VITAL did not show significant reductions in risk from cancer or cardiovascular diseases from using these supplements.

2. It Keeps Your Immune System Strong

Vitamin D is an essential fat-soluble vitamin that plays a vital role in supporting and strengthening our immune systems, keeping viruses at bay, and keeping disease at bay. Maintaining adequate levels is thus paramount.

Sunlight is the easiest way to acquire Vitamin D, stimulating a chemical reaction that leads to its production by your skin. But other foods, like salmon, tuna, sardines and trout as well as beef liver, egg yolk and fortified milk also contain it.

However, getting enough Vitamin D may be challenging in winter when sunlight levels are at their lowest. Therefore, the National Institutes of Health advise that children under age 1 and those aged 70+ take Vitamin D supplements all year round.

Vitamin D supports your immune system by supporting T cells and macrophages – your primary defenses against bacteria and pathogens – with its immunoregulatory and anti-inflammatory properties, so it may keep you protected even if exposed to coronavirus infections; additionally it has also been known to boost immunity against tuberculosis and influenza infections.

3. It Boosts Your Mood

Vitamin D, commonly referred to as the sunshine vitamin, is essential to our bones and immune systems, but studies also demonstrate its positive effects on mood and anxiety reduction.

Low Vitamin D levels have been linked with various health issues, including depression. Vitamin D helps to regulate serotonin, which plays a crucial role in our emotions and depression symptoms such as sadness, hopelessness and guilt. Supplementing with Vitamin D has shown to increase serotonin levels leading to more positive emotions such as optimism and happiness.

One 2022 study published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition revealed that people who took vitamin D supplements reported less negative emotion. While these results are promising, other research is less conclusive; for instance, one meta-analysis of 25 trials suggested that while vitamin D supplementation might help lift mood it likely won’t cure depression completely.

Spend some time outside in order to maximize your Vitamin D levels and make the most of this nutrient. Exposing your skin to sunlight allows the body to more readily absorb this essential nutrient, while you can also consume foods high in Vitamin D like salmon and milk with added vitamin D content. According to The Endocrine Society’s recommendations, adults 18 years or older should consume 1,500 to 2,000 international units of Vitamin D daily.

4. It Can Help Prevent Cancer

Vitamin D has long been the subject of much discussion and scientific investigation, due to observations that people living in sunnier regions had lower rates of cancer and less deaths from it than those who resided in darker areas.

Vitamin D deficiency has long been suspected to impede our immune systems’ ability to detect and fight off cancerous cells, possibly leading to tumor growth and spread. Studies have also shown that those diagnosed with high levels of vitamin D at diagnosis tend to have increased chances of survival.

Vitamin D’s anti-cancer properties appear to be linked with its effects on endocrine systems and inflammatory mediators, according to one 2020 JAMA Network Open study. Men and women who were given 2,000 IU per day of Vitamin D experienced a 20 per cent lower risk of advanced or fatal cancers when compared with participants given placebo pills (JAMA Network Open 2020).

Further research needs to be conducted in order to examine these relationships in greater depth, and prove that Vitamin D does have an effect on cancer risk. Therefore, it would be premature for anyone to start taking high-dose supplements expressly for this reason, though getting plenty of sunshine exposure and including foods rich in Vitamin D into your diet are smart moves to avoid becoming deficient in this vitamin.

5. It Can Help Prevent Heart Disease

Vitamin D is widely known for helping maintain bone health; however, it also plays a pivotal role in heart disease prevention. Studies have demonstrated that people with lower levels of vitamin D are at increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes as well as metabolic syndrome – defined as having three or more “almost high” risk factors for heart disease such as high blood pressure (above 140mm Hg), over 40 inches around waist circumference (40 inches around), cholesterol or triglyceride levels above 40 (or “almost high”).

Studies indicate that vitamin D can aid in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases like coronary artery disease and stroke by raising HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels while simultaneously decreasing triglycerides – another type of blood fat. Unfortunately, these results rely solely on observational data – an association does not equate to causation. To tackle this, researchers launched VITAL: an unprecedented 21 trial clinical trial involving over 2500 participants taking either vitamin D supplements or placebo pills.

Studies conducted and recently published by JAMA Cardiology revealed that although vitamin D can lower triglycerides and risk factors associated with heart disease, high doses do not improve cardiovascular outcomes when taken consistently over time. Researchers believe the next step will be identifying why this is happening; such as whether certain groups benefit more than others from vitamin D supplementation and whether genetic links can be established.

6. It Can Help You Lose Weight

Vitamin D is an essential nutrient, providing your immune system with essential support while strengthening bones and teeth and aiding with calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus absorption. Studies suggest it could even promote weight loss while simultaneously decreasing body fat; further research may be required.

Vitamin D deficiency can lead to fatigue, weakness, hair loss and bone pain. A blood test can be conducted to confirm your intake; most health professionals advise people ages 1 through 70 get at least 600 international units (IU) daily from natural sources like fish oil supplements and fortified cereals or through oral supplements.

If you are deficient in vitamin D, even brief sun exposure can help raise levels, particularly during summer when sunlight levels are at their highest point. Be careful though; tanning beds and vitamin D supplements should be used instead; too much sun may damage skin. McTiernan suggests taking high-quality multivitamins tailored specifically for your body type that reflect how much 25-hydroxyvitamin D (calcidiol) your body actually uses and then labelling your supplements to show this information.