Vitamin D: How Much Sun Do You Need To Avoid A Deficit?

Vitamin D is a micronutrient that the body does not produce on its own and, therefore, must be incorporated from outside, with food or from sunlight. However, its contribution from the diet is scarce …

Therefore, the safest and most durable way to incorporate this vitamin and to cover our needs is through sun exposure. But how much do you need to safely increase your vitamin D stores?

How to increase your vitamin D stores

In the plant world, vitamin D is hardly found in any significant way: the most important source is mushrooms, especially those dried in the sun.

Among the foods with the highest amount of vitamin D are eggs, oily fish and enriched products (as is usual in some milk, cereals or juices).

The most effective is to ensure the contact of the sun with the skin. In fact, vitamin D obtained from sun contact with the skin lasts twice as long in the body as it does from food.

When we are exposed to the sun, vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is produced in the skin, which is the same form in which it is found in food. In the liver it is transformed into calcidiol (25-OH vitamin D), which is the inactive circulating form of this vitamin.

And when the body needs it, the kidney converts it into calcitriol (1-25-OH vitamin D), which is its active form, ready to act on the tissues.

An analysis to measure your vitamin D levels

Normally, in laboratory tests, its blood content is measured through calcidiol, which is much more stable than calcitriol. According to the levels, it is considered:

• Deficiency: values ​​are less than 20 ng / ml
• Insufficiency: between 21 and 29 ng / ml
• Sufficiency: above 30 ng / ml
• Optimal levels: between 30-60 ng / ml, although up to 100 ng / ml is considered normal.

A very common vitamin deficiency

Among our population, it is very common for vitamin D deficiency to be detected , and this despite the fact that we live in a country with many hours of sunshine.

It is believed that the causes of so many people with insufficient levels of vitamin D should be found in the fact that most of us spend the day locked up at home or at work …

On the other hand, the use of sun protection creams that prevent the arrival of ultraviolet rays, essential for the synthesis of vitamin D3 in the skin , also influences .

What if you lack vitamin D

Vitamin D is considered today as a hormone due to its involvement in important and varied functions of the body.

In fact, its deficit is related to muscle problems (such as chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia), low immunity and diseases or disorders as diverse as cancer, obesity, diabetes, pain and muscle inflammation or joint (arthritis), multiple sclerosis or depression …

How much sun to take

To obtain the necessary amounts, it would be enough to expose an equivalent skin surface to the face, hands and arms to the sun for at least 15-20 minutes 3 or 4 days a week, without sun protection.

The ideal time to make the best use of sunlight would be at noon, when the sun is highest, although a longer period of exposure at other times would also produce the necessary amount.

Keep in mind that dark-skinned people would need twice as long to cover the proper dose.

The help of a supplement

To meet daily needs, especially in Nordic countries that enjoy little sun, or to regain optimal levels when there is a deficit, vitamin D preparations or supplements are recommended, ideally in the form of cholecalciferol.

Cholecalciferol has a much lower risk of toxicity than calcidiol, which is usually prescribed in the form of ampoules (Hidroferol®). Vitamin D is measured in International Units (IU) or micrograms (µg): 5 µg equals 200 IU.

The recommended daily maintenance dose in adults who cannot access the sun is about 1,000 IU, and 1,500-2,000 IU in people over 70 years of age, since they have more difficulties in activating the vitamin.

In cases of deficiency, it can be increased to two capsules of 4000 IU of cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) daily for three or four months, then doing a control analysis. If it is taken together with foods that contain fat (oil for example), it is better absorbed, since it is a fat-soluble vitamin.