Practically every day another benefit of Vitamin D is revealed. Vitamin D is created when our skin is exposed to sunshine. It is also present in our diet, mainly in cold-water fish and dark green vegetables. It is primarily responsible for transporting minerals to our bones and keeping them strong. A primary symptom of Vitamin D deficiency is sore bone - see the "D"efficiency and Is the Sun our Enemy? Weekly Wellness Reports.

I want to talk about Vitamin D and its relationship to brain health. This is in response to a recent newspaper headline that read, "Vitamin D Linked to Parkinson's disease." Now, as you read that title, do you think the article is reporting on the benefits or the dangers of Vitamin D?

Vitamin D and Parkinson's
You won't have to wait until the end of the article to find out: Vitamin D is beneficial in protecting against Parkinson's disease. In fact, low levels of Vitamin D are associated with:

• Neurological diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's
• Autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis
• Metabolic disorders such as diabetes.

Vitamin D is formed when sunlight strikes the skin and interacts with cholesterol. Its main purpose is to shuttle calcium and other minerals to the bones.

Vitamin D enters the brain tissues surrounded by healthy fats. Just as Vitamin D is necessary for proper calcium absorption into the bones, Vitamin D aids in the delivery of good fats into the brain where they serve as building blocks for healthy brain structure.

Vitamin D - a messenger
Information is carried by a number of messengers inside your body, including proteins and fats. Vitamin D can also act like a messenger, telling the cells how much work to do.

This may be compared to building a house. Proteins give specific instructions in the same way a carpenter may decide how best to connect walls and windows and doors. Fats may serve as the building materials for the entire house. Vitamin D serves as the general contractor to determine how much building should be done at any specific time.

We certainly need proteins and protein complexes of Vitamin B-12 to create the structures making up our brain. We also need the fats found in OmegaPrime to serve as raw materials and general information on brain repair. We need Vitamin D to help develop our brain when we are young and to repair it as we age.

Why you need to work harder to get your wintertime supply of Vitamin D
We get Vitamin D from sunlight, foods and supplements. Because we are exposed to less sunshine in the winter than in the summer, we need to be more vigilant about supplementing with Vitamin D and exposing our skin to sunshine whenever practical. Most doctors who recommend Vitamin D explain that cold and flu outbreaks during winter are directly related to Vitamin D deficiency.

Use TriVita's VitaCal-Mag D, TriVita's Bone Builder or Leanology capsules - whichever supplement is most appropriate for you - to help make up for the lack of winter sunshine.

Take Control of Your Health Get 20 minutes of morning or evening sunshine Expose at least 40% of your skin to direct sunlight Avoid midday sun; never burn! Eat wild-caught cold-water fish as appropriate Eat dark green leafy vegetables Take a Vitamin D supplement such as: VitaCal-Mag D Bone Builder Leanology capsules Take healthy aging nutrients: Multiple vitamin/mineral Sublingual B-12 OmegaPrime Vitamin C

Learn More...

• Vitamin D deficiency

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