With the winter months now here, I've been receiving an increased number of questions about Vitamin D. First some background on why you may be deficient in Vitamin D during the winter months. And then I'll touch specifically upon UV lights and UV light bulbs.
So let's start with some basics and get a good foundation. Vitamin D is called the "sunshine vitamin" because our body turns the suns rays into Vitamin D. During the summer months, 15-30 minutes of direct sunlight when the sun is at its highest (10:30am - 2:30pm) can result in 15,000-20,000 IU of Vitamin D produced by your body.
Vit D Supplement
Let's dig a little deeper into that. The sun produces two types of rays: UVA and UVB. Now, UVA rays are the type you hear all the negativity about. They damage the skin and are also responsible for tanning. Tanning salons will use UVA bulbs in their beds (though some do also use UVB). However, vitamin D production comes from the UVB rays. When we are talking about natural sunlight, there is another big difference between UVA and UVB. Our atmosphere will actually deflect UVB rays. So, depending upon the season and the time of day, you may not get much, if any, UVB rays for Vitamin D production.
In fact, from mid-October through mid-March, the sun will be at such an angle that all the UVB rays will be deflected and not even reach the surface. That translates into zero Vitamin D production from sunlight. To get any production, the UV Index needs to be at 3.0 or above. You can find the UV Index for your area by looking at the EPA's UV Index website.
An easy way to keep track of this...if you live above 42-degrees latitude, then during the winter months the UV Index will be below 3.0 and you will not be able to absorb any UVB rays for Vitamin D production, due to the angle of the sun. 42-degrees latitude runs from the northern border of California through Chicago, IL, and over to Boston, MA. So if you live north of these locations, you aren't going to get any Vitamin D from the sun during these months.
If you are in one of these locations, then you may want to consider getting your Vitamin D through other methods, due to the plethora of benefits. My recommendation would be a pharmaceutical grade supplement, as this is the only way you can be guaranteed of receiving the full amount advertised on the bottle in a bioavailable form. Meaning, it will absorb into your body.
However, there is another method gaining in popularity. And that would be UV lights and light bulbs. Light therapy is especially popular with treating SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). But do these lights actually produce Vitamin D? Well, it depends. You now know your body needs UVB rays to produce Vitamin D. So it simply comes down to that. If the light you are using will emit UVB rays, then you will be able to use it effectively as an alternate to natural sunlight. It's that simple.
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Dec 11, 2011 22:29:37
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