THE IMPORTANCE OF VITAMIN D3 – Part II

The most important thing to remember in avoiding vitamin D deficiency is to ensure your vitamin D3 is balanced with the other fat-soluble vitamins – A, E, & K. This is why we carry Systemic Formulas, as they are derived from whole sources, not synthetic, and they have the right balance in the right ratios.

Why do they do this? Because vitamin D overdose is not as cut and dried as it sounds. It’s not that it can build up too much in the body, but that vitamin D itself can compete for the same receptors as the other fat-soluble vitamins. They are known as cross-receptors.

For instance, if vitamin D connects to the vitamin K receptors, you can end up with a vitamin K deficiency (and there is a big vitamin K deficiency already in the public), and so on. Systemic Formulas provides the proper balance of fat solubility to eliminate this issue.

Many of you have heard of vitamin K before, but you probably understand it as K1, which is the blood clotting factor. K2 is different. It moves calcium into your bones. So, you can ingest a significant amount of calcium, but without K2 you can still end up with osteoporosis.

In America it is recommended that men and women get 1000-1200 mg of vitamin D daily, depending on their age, to help maintain bone mass and avoid osteoporosis, which is common.

However, the people of rural China get about 500 mg daily on average and have zero osteoporosis. Why is that? It’s because they get K2 from natto (fermented soybeans), the fat of grass-fed cows in their fatty meat and, especially, their butter. If you buy conventional grain-fed animal products, there is virtually no K2 in them, so your body can’t absorb the calcium.

How much vitamin D3 should we take? Well, it depends on how depleted a person is. For daily use, the ranges vary greatly for each product and depending on the expert advice. As such, it can be anywhere from 4000-10,000 units a day.

Let’s address the sunscreen issue. Afterall, it is a primary reason for vitamin D deficiency. We take it for face value that just because it is sunscreen and sits on the shelves at our store, that it must be safe. But that’s not really true.

Studies performed in 2020 showed that chemical sunscreen ingredients are absorbed into the skin and into your system just after one application. Some of those ingredients can stay in the blood for at least three weeks, and they have been linked to everything from allergies to infertility.

 An FDA study covering six of the major sunscreen chemicals, found them to be at concentrations that surpass the FDA safety threshold.

The Environmental Working Group (Go to ewg.org/sunscreen), found that nearly 75% of sunscreens on the market do not work for UV protection, even if these protective abilities are stated on the product labeling.

The better alternative is to use sunscreens that contain minerals, like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Minerals are not absorbed into your skin, but rather they lie on top of the skin and reflect the sun’s rays. They help to protect from burning and skin aging. 

So, to avoid vitamin D deficiency, use sunscreens that contain minerals, like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, to protect your skin. Also, make sure your vitamin D3 is balanced with the other fat-soluble vitamins – A, E, & K, that they are derived from whole sources (not synthetic), and that they have the right balance in the right ratios.