Presently, chronic diseases are among the leading causes of death. However, one vitamin is capable of preventing those diseases while reducing your risk of developing cancer by 50 percent! That vitamin is vitamin D and here are a few more reasons why you need it…

A little sunshine for a lot of benefit

Spending more time outside is a small trade-off for the many benefits vitamin D has to offer. After all, vitamin D:

• Reduces your risk of cancer (including breast, colorectal, and prostate)
• Maintains cell growth
• Inhibits tumour growth
• Fights infections, colds, and flu
• Regulates your immune system

All these activities naturally improve how you age as well as your immunity and heart health.

What makes Vitamin D so powerful?

Understanding why and how vitamin D is so influential throughout the body requires a breakdown of what it does. For instance:

• Aging Vitamin D slows aging or improves how you age by promoting expression of genes that control metabolism. It also amplifies DNA repair and limits oxidative damage, which allows your cells to live longer without becoming cancerous
• Immunity With its potent ability to regulate the immune system, vitamin D is considered by some researchers to be more effective against the flu than vaccines! Vitamin D’s effect on immunity also boosts your defence against autoimmune disease
• Heart Health When it comes to supporting the cardiovascular system, finding a nutrient as effective as vitamin D is difficult. Vitamin D reduces high blood pressure and atherosclerosis thereby significantly decreasing your risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke

Avoiding Vitamin D deficiency

Research revealed 11 factors that affect how much vitamin D your body is able to produce:

1. Age
2. Altitude, elevation, or latitude
3. Antioxidant levels
4. Cloud cover and pollution
5. Ground reflection
6. Ozone layer
7. Season
8. Skin colour
9. Sunscreen
10. Time of day
11. Weight

You should ‘Ask a Naturopath’ to discuss these factors with you .Together, you can work out how to optimise your vitamin D level and maximise the health benefits above.