Work in progress…  Click here for this leaflet…

PDF: vitamin-d-facts-against-blue-sky

Here’s that leaflet in words…

Of all the essential nutrients, why are we ‘banging on’ about Vitamin D?

Dogs, cats, horses and humans all need about 50 essential nutrients.

For well-over 100 years these have been known to include minerals, with any single mineral deficiency being responsible for multiple health troubles. Here are examples of essential minerals each with an example of just one related deficiency disorder:

  • Magnesium – needed to be able to relax and sleep well.
  • Iodine – needed for making the hormone thyroxin and therefore for avoiding fatigue
  • Zinc – low zinc results in loss of sense of taste and smell

Long ago, it was observed that diets lacking in both animal fats and colourful foods went with skin disorders and susceptibility to infections. It was observed that after poor harvests people who ate nothing but very old corn (maize) lost energy and some died of an illness called pellagra. On long voyages, sailors without fruit and vegetables would develop scurvy with bleeding gums and teeth falling out. Children deprived of sunshine and animal fats developed rickets (with leg bones failing to develop correctly).

It took a few decades to identify the VITAL nutrients that were lacking in each of these cases. The chemical names for these were often complex and so they were all named as VITAMINS. The VITAMINS identified for the above 4 examples were, A, B3, C and D.

Doctors were being taught Vitamin D was just for bone-health then more-and-more illnesses and disorders were found to be especially prevalent in people with low levels of Vitamin D3. By the 1980’s over 200 illnesses had been linked to low Vitamin D3 in blood.

While rickets was being observed in children who had been working in coal mines, most of the population were eating plenty of foods high in Vitamin D3 (mackerel/kippers, meat, eggs, full-fat milk and so on) and spending lots of time outdoors with no sunscreen needed.

Now, millions of people are staying out of the sun and eating less meat. Many are choosing to be vegan. Yes, supplements are being used, but very few people take enough supplemental Vitamin D3 to make up for diets low in Vitamin D and lack of sun exposure.

Then we had CoViD…

  • Stress/anxiety/fear seems to consume; Vitamin A (that normally protects our Airways), Vitamin C that is vital for repair (especially of Collagen) and Vitamin D that is vital for Defense against colds, ‘flu and whatever CoViD was/is.
  • Older folks who often only expose their faces to the sun (keeping arms and legs covered almost every day of the year) started wearing masks and some still are wearing masks! These have been proven not to stop viruses but, instead, stop the sunshine from generating the Vitamin D that would Defend them from viruses.

There has never been a time when supplemental Vitamin D3 was needed so very much.

Work in progress…