Sun increase serotonin levels in our blood and helping to balance melatonin, the sun's UV rays enable our bodies to manufacture vitamin D in the fat layer under the skin.
The regulation for the amount of vitamin D a child need to take is based on the amount a child needs to prevent rickets, a condiction characterized by abnormal bone formation. But prevention of rickets ins't the only benefit of optimal vitamin D levels. There is a greater role for vitamin D than was previously understood. Vitamin D is both a vitamin and a precursor hormone that has an essential role in the maintenance of bone, breast, brain, immune system, and gut health. Throughout our lives adequate vitamin D helps build bones mass, maintain healthy cholesterol and blood pressure levels, and build join health.
Researchers have even show that supplementation in infants less than a year old of 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day or take 15 to 30 minutes of sunlight reduced the incidence of type 1 diabetes by 80 per cent. It also decrease the risk of multiple sclerosis and help prevent some cancers, including breast, ovarian, prostate, and colorectal cancer. In fact, some doctors believe tha suboptimal levels of vitamin D may be one of the reasons why breast cancer incidence is higher in northern latitudes than nearer the equator.
Exposure to outdoor sunlight is much more reliable predictor of vitamin D levels in your blood than dietary intake. This is party because oral vitamin D requirements have been found to vary tremendously among individuals.
Also, vitamin D content of enricher dairy foods varies widely, especially in low-fat dairy food. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, and fat-free or low-fat dairy food doesn't contain enough fat to dissolved it. And while it is possible though rare, to take in toxic levels of vitamin D from suplements, it is impossible for sun exposure to result in too much vitamin D. Our bodily wisdom contains a built-in mechanism whereby we manufacture exactly what we need from the sun _ no more and no less.
To bring vitamin D levels into a healthy range, all that is needed is for a child to play outside with face and hands exposed for twenty minutes without sunscreen three to five times per week for four to five mouths a year (between April and October in northern latitudes. Her body will make enough vitamin D from this exposure to last the entire year. The more body area exposed, the better. People with a darker pigmentation need more time exposure the key is moderation and avoid sunburn.
The safest time is early morning before 10.00 am and later afternoon after 15.00pm. Avoid the midday sun if is possible.
