Words: Andrea Concepcion

The new kid on the block for healthy living is vitamin D—essential for a wide range of bodily functions—and one that we don’t get enough of.

For decades you’ve been told, ‘Avoid the sun!’ Not wanting dear Mother Nature to give you the kiss of death (a.k.a. skin cancer), you lathered on sun block or stayed indoors. But the doctors who warned us failed to pass out the memo that doing so has a bad side eff ect: vitamin D deficiency.

According to the Archives of Internal Medicine, three-fourths of the U.S. population is defi cient in vitamin D, which recent research shows is crucial for the maintenance of our body’s immune system and the prevention of various health problems, such as bone loss, cardiovascular disease and certain forms of cancer.

While we can get vitamin D from various foods, most of what we need is produced by our body’s exposure to the sun. Since most people don’t get enough from sunlight (about 10 minutes a day at midday), a healthy diet is the best way to go.

A poor diet can contribute to the defi ciency, says Paul Gross, Ph.D., the Senior Manager of Nutrition Research and Labeling at the Dole Nutrition Institute. To get what you need, you should eat foods rich in vitamin D, such as tuna, mushrooms, liver, eggs, fortifi ed milk and sardines. “It can be done but most people don’t practice this diet,” Gross says.

Supplementation is another great source, though doctors vary how much they prescribe.  e average person up to age 70 needs about 600 IUs (International Units) of vitamin D a day, while anyone over 70 needs 800 IUs, according to the National Institute of Medicine. Some doctors even recommend taking up to 10,000 IUs a day.

“I personally take 5,000 IUs, which keeps my level in the middle of the optimal range—and I live in sunny California,” says Julian Whitaker, M.D., a Newport Beach-based doctor who specializes in preventative medicine and wellness.

The right amount of vitamin D can help boost your body’s immunity and ward off chronic disease, says Pamela Smith, M.D., who directs the Fellowship in Anti-Aging, Regenerative, and Functional Medicine for the American Academy of Anti-Aging. She says vitamin D is a key component in biological functions, and communicates instructions to cells throughout the body by linking up with receptor sites on those cells. “It’s a lock-and-key mechanism. [Vitamin D] attaches to the receptor site, and that allows it to function in the body,” she says.

Healthy levels of vitamin D helps prevent diseases, such as Parkinson’s, as well as colon, liver and breast cancer. It also slows the progression of osteoarthritis, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and cardiovascular disease.

A Utah Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute study followed 9,400 patients—mostly females—who were all vitamin D defi cient; 47% of those who increased their vitamin D levels showed a reduced risk in cardiovascular disease. In a second study, which evaluated 31,000 patients, those who increased their vitamin D levels had lower rates for cardiovascular disease, as well as heart failure, high blood pressure, depression and kidney failure.