Vitamin D

In this episode we are talking about an extra important (okay they are all important) fat soluble vitamin. That Vitamin is vitamin D. You have probably heard that it is important, but in this episode we are breaking down all the functions of this vitamin and why it is important that we have it in adequate amounts. We will also give you some good food sources and some helpful supplementation tips.

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Transcript

Baylee: 0:22

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes. This is Bailey.

Brianna: 0:27

this is Brianna. Nice.

Baylee: 0:31

really good cafe and got a juiced, a juiced, a juiced. I got a juiced. I think it's like oranges, beets, something else. I don't remember, but it's pretty good. I did eat my lunch right before this, so we're not going to have a blood sugar crash. We got the protein in. We're good to go.

Brianna: 0:52

I did. I was just, I was in the checkout at Target and I was like, Ooh, this looks good. I haven't tried it, but it's called Juvie. I'm pretty sure it's just like a glorified energy drink.

Baylee: 1:05

Oh, okay.

Brianna: 1:06

But I mean it has like altheine in it, gin, ginseng, and then it does have vitamin B, not it is over a hundred percent, but it's not too crazy. Like you know how sometimes you see energy drinks and they're like 1200% vitamin B It is high, but it's not that high. And then it does have some caffeine in it, so like 127 milligrams. So

Baylee: 1:30

Oh, yeah.

Brianna: 1:30

almost like a coffee, depending on what kind of,

Baylee: 1:32

I'll go door and then cup.

Brianna: 1:34

yeah. So.

Baylee: 1:36

Okay.

Brianna: 1:37

We'll see. It's three o'clock. So I don't know how smart that was, but here we are. And it's the, they have a couple of flavors. This was the watermelon lime and it's okay.

Baylee: 1:45

Yes. Today, we are talking about vitamin D. We've done an episode before on magnesium, and you guys really enjoyed it, so we picked another, well, magnesium's a mineral, not a vitamin. But we picked a vitamin to do today. So we're going to go over vitamin D because it's a pretty popular one. It's often supplemented. So we're going to go over like what exactly it is. Why do you need it? How to supplement where can you get sources of vitamin D from? We're gonna cover all the bases today.

Brianna: 2:15

Yeah. Vitamin D is Honestly, there's, do we have a statistic for this? Like how many people are deficient in vitamin D? Cause it's a lot.

Baylee: 2:23

I think it's like they're estimating at least like 80 percent of the population is either like deficient or insufficient.

Brianna: 2:31

Yeah. And that's based on like your traditional lab ranges, which I think most labs, like the lower end is 20. So this less than 20. But if you're looking from it, from like an optimal, like functional approach, really 50 is like where you should be like no less than 50. So I, I feel like if we were to like, look at how many people are Deficient and less than 50, that number would probably be higher

Baylee: 2:59

Oh, absolutely. Especially. I mean, it depends on where you live too. Like, especially where I live, Missouri, we got a lot of people deficient. So, and that's why I honestly tell a lot of people that, yeah, you probably do need a supplement vitamin D. I always do like to have the labs go along with it because it is a fat soluble vitamin, but pretty much. If you're a human living and working in Missouri, definitely you're going to need a vitamin D supplement. It's just we don't synthesize enough from the sun, is a main thing of it, because vitamin D is your sunshine vitamin. And it's going to play a crucial role in maintaining your overall health. And the reason why it is so unique compared to other vitamins is because it It can actually be produced when your skin is exposed to sunlight. So that's why I say like, if you're in Missouri, especially during the wintertime, plus like if you're working, you're often not getting enough of that sunlight because really to synthesize enough, you have to be in the sun, what is like 20 minutes between the hours of like 10 and two. And it's like full body exposure. I don't know

Brianna: 4:05

sunscreen.

Baylee: 4:06

Yeah, but I'm not like outside butt naked between 10 a. m. and 2, or actually really any other time You won't catch me outside butt naked.

Brianna: 4:16

Right.

Baylee: 4:17

I hope never

Brianna: 4:18

Yeah. It's like, you need a certain percentage of your skin exposed X amount of time while sun is at its strongest. And if you're wearing sunscreen, you do not absorb it the way that. You would if you weren't. So, you know, not saying don't wear sunscreen because I think, you know, skin cancer is a real thing too, but maybe like don't overdo the sunscreen. If you're not prone to burning, maybe don't use it all over your body. I mean, you know, obviously that's like a personal preference, but, you know, or I even tell people like, can you go out when it's like Earlier in the morning, maybe a little bit later in the afternoon when the skin, the sun isn't as harsh, like anything is better than nothing. But I mean, regardless, we're not getting enough sun. I mean, that makes sense. We're definitely not getting enough fresh air in general, but yeah, if you live somewhere where it's cold, you don't want to go outside or it's just, you know, dreary. You're going to have less, less. And I will say, even if you do get a lot of sun, you can still be deficient because I remember thinking like, oh, there's no way I could be deficient. Like I had just come from California. I live in Texas. I've been outside. It's super sunny. And I was really deficient. You so you absorb vitamin D from the sun and then you need to convert it to its active form. And some people are better at converting it than others. And that's actually where magnesium ties into vitamin D because magnesium is the cofactor for the enzyme that converts the inactive. Vitamin D to the active. So side note on that, but it just depends. So maybe you are getting a ton of sun, but you're just not good at turning it into its active form.

Baylee: 5:53

Mm hmm. And with that being said there are two types of vitamin D So you have vitamin D 2 and you have vitamin D 3 So I've actually been finding a lot of doctors prescribed like the prescription vitamin D is vitamin D 2 You Which I don't understand why, because I always recommend vitamin D3 because it's more bioavailable. Your body's going to use it a lot better. So, D2, this is going to be found in like your plant sources like mushrooms that are exposed to UV light. D3 is found in animal based foods like fish, eggs, liver, and it's also going to be the one that's synthesized by the skin in response to sunlight exposure. So D3 is going to be more effective at raising and maintaining those vitamin D levels in your blood compared to a vitamin D2. So if you're taking a supplement or if you're looking at taking a supplement, you want to focus on that vitamin D3, then your functions of vitamin D. So it's going to be essential for healthy bones and teeth because it helps in calcium absorption in the gut. And also it helps with your immune system because it enhances pathogen fighting effects. I mean like mood regulation. So it's linked to reduce risk of depression and improve mental health. And then it even plays a role in reducing inflammation and supporting cell growth. So a lot of just like overall maintain your body type of functions, which is why when your vitamin D is low. You can definitely feel it every time. I don't know if anyone else has this happen to, but every time my vitamin D has gotten super low, my hair starts falling out and I, I don't know why, but yeah, my hair falls out and clumps when I'm deficient in vitamin D and I have a very hard time staying awake. I get very sleepy.

Brianna: 7:46

Yes. I would say that's what I noticed the most is I'm very tired or I'm just like not in a good mood. And that's, I mean, I tell people like vitamin D basically acts as like a hormone in the body. So there's, you know, getting like science y, there's receptors and nucleuses of cells. The vitamin D binds to active form of vitamin D and it, you know, activates certain genes. So yeah, I know it plays a role in like serotonin and dopamine. So it makes sense if you're deficient, you're not going to be feeling awake or feeling happy. Another really important thing that it plays. is insulin secretion. And so, you know, our p vitamin D for insulin to So I I see it in almost everyone that has diabetes is vitamin D deficiency. And it is annoying because doctors give vitamin D too, which again, you can supplement with as much as that as you want, but if you're not converting it to the active form, it's not doing what you think it's doing. And I don't know why they do that. I think maybe cause they just think like you're less likely. To build up a toxic amount of it? I don't, I don't know. It's rolling like calcium. I mean, but there's things you can do to help that but

Baylee: 8:58

maybe. I mean, I'm sure it's a little bit cheaper. So, I don't know. Because then, it's the same thing, like, when we talked about magnesium. Yeah, there's, like, vitamin D2 would be a cheaper form to purchase as a supplement, but then it's like, wouldn't you rather just get the one that, you Is doing a better job or are you just going to, it's like, I mean, hiring an employee, do you want someone who's going to be efficient and you have to pay them a little bit more, but they're going to get the job done? Or do you want kind of someone that you have to always keep an eye on? And even though you can pay them less, it might take them a little bit longer.

Brianna: 9:31

And not doing their job as well. I agree. I agree. So, and you know, like being dieticians, we obviously have like a foods first approach, so we listed. You know, some animal, I mean, they have an implant sources, but very, very minimal, like, and that's going to be your D two. So your D three, you're active in the food sources are going to be like this fatty fish, even called liver oil. If you don't eat a lot of fatty fish, a yolks beef liver. So like, if you have a good beef liver supplement, that's kind of like one of those supplements where I'm like, I feel like it does a lot.

Baylee: 10:05

Mm hmm. Yeah, I think it's I've definitely learned more about it recently. And I think it's like a, it's a good one hitter for a couple different things.

Brianna: 10:15

Yeah, exactly. So I'm like, that's good, but you can also eat liver. And then there is, you can get it in milk, but that's because milk was fortified with it. So a lot of people think milk, it just automatically has vitamin D. It doesn't, it's fortified with it. So it's not like you have to be drinking your milk.

Baylee: 10:29

Yeah. And I get a lot of questions that that is like, Oh, if I'm not drinking milk, I can I'm missing on vitamin D. No, I mean, yes, I am. Deficient in vitamin D, but I was deficient in vitamin D before I

Brianna: 10:41

It's probably not because you don't drink milk.

Baylee: 10:44

because yeah, so dairy is not essential to meet your vitamin D needs. It's just like, it's a convenient option because it's fortified with that vitamin D. So you can get other food sources. I like, I would say most of my vitamin D is coming from daddy fish, egg yolks, mushrooms. I mean, that pretty much.

Brianna: 11:05

Yeah, there's not a lot. I think that's what I want people to realize is there's not a ton. And if you look up like the amount of vitamin D that's in each of these foods, like the amount of vitamin D in an egg yolk, like it's a decent amount, but it's definitely not going to get you where you need to be for the day. So I feel like this is one where you probably do need to supplement, especially if you know, you're low.

Baylee: 11:26

Mm-hmm

Brianna: 11:27

So you're just You're not going to be able to get around it, especially, I mean, I would definitely say also get out in the sun, but if you can't do that or you're not converting it as well, I would rather you supplement with vitamin D and be at an optimal level than be like chronically deficient.

Baylee: 11:42

Yes. I think vitamin D is definitely one I would recommend to supplement. Even like when we talk about magnesium, we talked about that most people probably need some magnesium supplementation. I would say vitamin D is another one. Most people are gonna need it. I get vitamin D, I take the neutrophil supplement.

Brianna: 11:59

Mm

Baylee: 12:00

like and I even mentioned yes, I do eggs like all the time. I love eggs But that's also a good point of like to include the egg yolks. That's where you're getting that vitamin g Where in the dieting world when you're taught to do like, oh only egg whites Well, guess what you're missing out on a lot of these vitamins and minerals So i'm seeing right now how much? I forget how much nutrafol has in it. But yeah, like Neutrophil, it is the D3 and it has 50 micrograms.

Brianna: 12:31

Okay. Yeah. Does I think, I think where people get, you know, maybe this is why doctors do it now that I'm thinking. So like vitamin D plays a role in like calcium reabsorption. Yeah.

Baylee: 12:46

Mm hmm.

Brianna: 12:47

And you want to make sure that calcium is going where it needs to. And so if you're not doing enough vitamin K, it's not going to go to it's the bones. Like it needs to, it's going to go other places like your kidneys, you can get kidney stones. I think it also like hurts your arteries to like the calcium bill. So, I mean, we always say like, test, don't guess, and don't just be on like a bajillion. I use a vitamin D3 for the rest of your life, not knowing, but You know, like I take one that it's D3 and

Baylee: 13:18

hmm. Yeah, that's what I was just going to mention. That's where, so like the 50 micrograms, it's, I think it's 2, 000 I use. So in general, I would say most people are probably pretty safe with 1, 000 to 2, 000 I use. I think that's a safe amount to take. And so you have your vitamin D, you have your vitamin D3 supplements. But D3 is going to be preferred. Then you can also, and I think this has been more popular, more recently D3 plus K2 because it helps to ensure that calcium is properly utilized. So then it reduces that risk of arterial calcification. So that's another thing to keep in mind with supplementing. I would D3 K2 is probably like best option. D3 is like a good option. D2, I just wouldn't do it.

Brianna: 14:05

Yeah. I just feel like it's not worth it. Right? Like if you're going to be taking a supplement, you want to make sure it's doing what it's supposed to, and you don't, you know, you're not knowing how much you're converting. So you could just be taking a fat soluble vitamin, not utilizing it. And then, know, that's not, it's not very helpful.

Baylee: 14:23

And really, you can take it any time of day, just you want to make sure you have some fats when you take it, so that way it's better absorbed, because it is a fat soluble vitamin. So that's one of the reasons why we do need to eat fat, is because fat helps us utilize fat soluble vitamins. So if you're eating, how we've kind of talked before, doing a protein, fat, and fiber at every meal, well, you're getting fat at every meal, so you're good to go there.

Brianna: 14:49

Yeah no, that's, that's a good thing to mention. Cause I think sometimes people will just like get in a routine of taking their supplements and sometimes like in the morning without food, you want food at least with this one or yeah, some, some sort of fat. I was going to say the 2000 I use, I think that's like a good recommendation for like the general population who's not deficient. If you are deficient, you probably need a little bit more, but I'm not going to give a like blanket amount because it's very highly dependent

Baylee: 15:17

Mm hmm. Yeah. It kind of, it depends on the person. I mean, I've had someone who needed, they were so deficient, they got like an injection from our nurses at my office for 50, 000 I use. So it kind of just depends on where you're at. I mean, I would say some people only say like 800 I use, but honestly, I think people are so deficient in any ways that you're probably good to go at. 2000, especially if you're not outside a lot or eating of those, any of those foods, horses, I think 2000, I would agree would be a good amount to be at. And then we kind of mentioned like calcium, magnesium. So we are vitamins and minerals work together. Like they're not all just independent workers. We don't have a bunch of entrepreneurs in our body. We have like, you're the CEO and you have all these employees, aka vitamins and minerals. They're working. So calcium works with vitamin D for bone health. Magnesium supports vitamin D metabolism and activation. K2 helps direct calcium to the bones and away from the arteries, so that's where that D3 and K2 comes into play. And then zinc plays a role in supporting your immune function along with vitamin D. So that's part of my like six season remedies, vitamin D and zinc and vitamin C. Those are my three I do. So D and zinc very well together.

Brianna: 16:42

And I'll say too, like you bring up a good point about how, like, nothing is working by itself. Like it's all we're working synergistically. Like it needs each other. And I think that's where people go wrong with again. I think there's some things you need a supplement with. I mean, I know there's a lot of dietitians who are very against that. And I think that's silly because we have so many deficiencies where I'm like, eh, no, I think, I think they have their place, but I think sometimes people will just like, they'll spend all this time and effort and money on supplements. And then they're still kind of eating my crap, you know? And it's like, When you're eating highly processed foods or foods that are not really whole foods, you're lacking all the vitamins and minerals that the micronutrients needed to absorb and metabolize those larger, you know, nutrients, like everything works together. So I would definitely encourage you, like, don't just continue eating horribly and be like, Oh, a supplement will fill in the gaps. Like, yes, it'll fill in the gaps, but it's not going to fill in the gap of like a healthful diet. You can't out supplement a poor diet

Baylee: 17:39

Yeah. You can't have a supplement, poor diet, same way. You can't outwork it. You can't outwork the poor diet either. And I would say like, if you are on like a budget or anything, if you focus on the foods first, you you're going to help yourself out tremendously. Don't feel like you have to go buy these supplements. Prefer you to allocate that money towards those whole food sources.

Brianna: 18:03

Exactly. Food first and then fill in the gaps. But I think, I don't know. I feel like we do this thing with supplements that people also do with medications. It's like, Oh, I have this ailment. A medication is a safety blanket. That'll just fix whatever's going on. I could just do whatever I want to do. We do that with supplements too. And I see women like constantly under eating, like you're not getting the nutrients you need for food and you can't just not eat healthful or under eat and then take a ton of supplements and think it's going to be the same thing. I would say, you know, your nutrition is very much tied to a lot of things, like how your body's working, how you feel. And again, like going down the line, like bone health, immune system, you know, mood regulation, inflammation, cell repair. Like if you're having issues with a lot of these things, get your vitamin D tested. Increase your time in the sun, increase your vitamin D rich foods. And then depending on how deficient you are, I mean, think about supplementing with a good D3 K2 supplement,

Baylee: 19:03

I said, I do like to see labs for most people, especially if you've been taking like 5, 000, I use every day for a couple of years. I want to see what your labs look like now. Cause we don't want to overdo it on vitamin D because with it being a fat soluble vitamin, you're not just going to pee out the extra where your water soluble ones like vitamin C, you're just going to pee out the extra. Like it's not a,

Brianna: 19:23

the excess vitamin B,

Baylee: 19:25

yes, you're just going to see it out. If you're not, you can ease it.

Brianna: 19:28

but you don't want to be a fat soluble and I think that's where. Oh, I was just reading this thing. That's like how many I use, you need to take a day to increase your serum levels by a certain amount. And it's a decent amount, but I would say like, yeah, if you've been taking 5, 000, I use every day for years in your lab, like really isn't moving. I'm like, You probably need to do what that person did at your job,

Baylee: 19:50

yeah, yes, hopefully and see, okay, do I just need like a good mega dose right now to get me through and then you can kind of even now and go to 2000. Function fine. So yeah, vitamin D toxicity is a thing. I will say it's pretty rare, but it can lead to hypercalcemia, which is just too much calcium in the blood. So symptoms of that could be like nausea and vomiting, weakness of fatigue, kidney damage, just like feeling that brain fog type feeling. And that's it. When I was pregnant, I did mention I had very high levels of vitamin D. Like, it was like, I think it was a hundred, it was a hundred something. Pretty high, which I still don't understand why I got that high, because I've always been deficient in vitamin D, and it makes no sense that growing a human made me,

Brianna: 20:37

that's good though. Like I've heard that's good for Gannon

Baylee: 20:40

yeah,

Brianna: 20:41

He's at much less risk of developing things like osteoporosis and things like that because of your vitamin D level when you're pregnant So that's fun.

Baylee: 20:48

yeah. But it did feel terrible. And that was the hard part because everyone's like, Oh, it's just normal pregnancy. You're just tired. It's normal pregnancy. I was like, you don't understand. I don't think it is like, I feel like something's wrong. And so they finally ran it for me and I was like, Oh, vitamin D was too high. So I had to stop using my prenatal and I switch it up. So that was fun. I could be any of those things. Generally like your, so your tolerable upper intake would be about 4, 000 I use per day, unless it's prescribed and being monitored by someone. So if you're someone who's just like chronically deficient and you need more than 4, 000 and that's what your doctor told you to, we're not saying to like, stop doing that either.

Brianna: 21:28

No, if you're under, you know, always refer it to your doctor That's what they told you to do.

Baylee: 21:32

Just a disclaimer. This is not medical advice is just general information of What your doctor could prescribe what your health care provider could direct you to do again, I think thousand 2000 I use daily for most people, you're probably going to be good there. If you're really low, like under that 12 mark, you might need to do that, like mega dose of the 50, 000 I use. And that's only for like, 6 to 8 weeks, one time a week, so that's only a couple dosages of that. And then you would move into a much lower dose for your daily.

Brianna: 22:04

And like, just to give you an, you know, an idea, like, what did you say? Like recommended everyone needs 600 to 800. I use a day.

Baylee: 22:12

Yeah, that's,

Brianna: 22:13

what you should be getting. So you're not deficient. Like an egg yolk has 37.

Baylee: 22:18

okay, yeah.

Brianna: 22:19

So, you know, when you're thinking about it, I'm fatty fish probably has more liver is going to have more, but if you're thinking like, okay, realistically, how much, how much am I getting? Am I deficient? And it's one of those things, right? Like you're using vitamin D or you need it for a lot of things. So if you're constantly under eating it. you know, you're kind of like just playing catch up.

Baylee: 22:38

Mm hmm,

Brianna: 22:39

I don't think about that.

Baylee: 22:40

yes. Anything else you think we need to add?

Brianna: 22:43

No, just that we're going to cover ourselves by telling you this is not medical advice and to contact your physician before changing or implementing anything. Even though I will say supplementation, all that stuff is within our scope as dietitians, just so we know, but

Baylee: 23:01

Yes. You're not looking at your labs right now. We are not working with you.

Brianna: 23:06

Yeah. We don't know anything about you.

Baylee: 23:08

Yes, we are putting this disclaimer on there that don't do this just because we said so. This episode is just for your information about vitamin D. So yeah. Okay.

Brianna: 23:17

purposes.

Baylee: 23:18

Yes, it's very important. It's going to affect a lot of things within your body, your bones, your teeth, your immune system, your mood, cell growth, repair, all these things that are affected by vitamin D. So if you're thinking about supplementing, talk to your healthcare provider, talk to someone you're working with, go for a D3, D3 plus K2 even better and see how it helps you out. But I mean, some signs of deficiency could be bone pain. Oh, I've actually heard. So if you like cuts on your shin and if it hurts, shin bone, then it's a sign of vitamin D deficiency.

Brianna: 23:53

Yes. I was actually going to bring that up. I like took me back to my nutrition focused physical, like physical exam. Like the whole thing, like they want dieticians touching people, which I feel like we don't, we don't do that. But if we were, yeah, if you press on your shin with your thumb and it kind of hurts, it could be a sign because vitamin D deficiency makes your bones soft. And so Interesting. I feel like everyone's going to be like, I went, when I heard that it was literally the other day. It was so random that we decided to do vitamin D. I was like doing it to my shin. I was like, does it hurt? I don't know.

Baylee: 24:22

like, am I deficient? Maybe. So yeah, you do that as a little quick self test, but I mean, you can also just get labs and do that. We hope this episode was helpful. If there's another vitamin or mineral you guys want us to talk about next, feel free to message us. We do have a new Instagram for Mocktail Minutes, so you can find us on there and we will be back next week with a brand new episode.

Brianna: 24:47

right, bye.

Baylee: 24:48

Bye.