By MAXINE SILBERG Registered Dietitian at Liberty Village, Yorkville, King & Yonge, Yonge & Eglinton Athlete's Care locations.
Vitamin D; the sunshine vitamin! Nothing makes me happier than vitamin D. Vitamin D is the only vitamin that we can produce on our own with a little help from the sun. Although harmful in large amounts, we need at least 10 minutes a day of UV light from the sun, without sunscreen, to benefit from it’s health effects. Vitamin D is responsible for keeping you healthy and strong by maintaining calcium and phosphorus levels, aiding in the formation of bones and teeth, assists the immune function, cell growth and fetal development. It is the vitamin responsible for preventing the bone malformation disease in kids known as rickets and adults as osteomalacia. Recent years have seen a rise in rickets levels in children as parents keep their kids covered from the harmful effects of the sun, resulting in insufficient amount of Vitamin D production in children.
In Canada it is common for vitamin D levels to drop in the winter that is why many foods have been fortified including milk and some breakfast cereals. Other sources include fatty fish like cod liver, salmon, tuna, sardines and mackerel, egg yolk and beef liver. Lucky for us we are heading into summer and can be sure to get enough vitamin D just by spending time outside in the beautiful sunshine.
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