Vitamin D, also known as “the sunshine vitamin”, is one of our body’s most important chemicals. It is not a vitamin but a precursor to a steroid hormone known as calcitriol. There are two vitamins known as ergocalciferol (D2) and cholecalciferol (D3). The primary difference is that vitamin D2 is derived from plants and yeasts, while vitamin D3 is present in animals.
It is one of the few vitamins our body can produce endogenously when exposed to sunlight. However, mostly it comes from outside. External sources of vitamin D vary from some foods to dietary supplements. It is also one of the four fat-soluble vitamins solvable in organic solvents and transported like fats inside the body.
Vitamin D is inert and needs to activate for proper functioning. It has to undergo a series of hydroxylation processes before activation. It converts to calcidiol inside the liver during the first hydroxylation. Calcidiol then transforms into the active form known as calcitriol. This conversion happens in the kidney.
Vitamin D helps the body in the absorption and retention of calcium and phosphorous. This is important for the mineralization, remodeling, and growth of bones. Moreover, it also plays an essential role in controlling infection, reducing inflammation, and suppressing the growth of cancerous cells.
This article will discuss the top five ways this vitamin can improve your health.
Osteoporosis is a painful and destructive bone disease in which bones weaken and their density decreases. As a result, bones lose their strength and become vulnerable to fracture. Osteoporosis even affects the height, decreasing it by approximately two inches. Bones become too sensitive that even mild stress can result in fracture. It also damages gums and jawbones and can lead to tooth loss. The leading cause of Osteoporosis is hypocalcemia or calcium deficiency. Bones need a permanent supply of calcium to maintain their strength and posture. If calcium is not available in adequate quantity over a long period, bones become brittle, losing their hardiness and pose.
Another bone disease that results from hypocalcemia and hypophosphatemia (phosphorous deficiency) is rickets. Rickets usually affects children with prolonged mineral deficiency. Their bones become soft and weak, growth is delayed, and muscles are worn out. Phosphorous deficiency also results in osteomalacia in adults with symptoms similar to rickets. The main reason for hypocalcemia and hypophosphatemia is vitamin D deficiency. Prolonged deficiency can lead to many diseases, as mentioned earlier.
Proper intake of vitamin D is vital for bone strength and posture. An optimum supply of vitamin D can reduce the risk of bone diseases both in children and adults.
Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death. According to WHO, about 16% of people died worldwide due to ischaemic heart diseases in 2019. This rate is the highest among all other diseases. The second highest was the heart stroke. Research has shown that vitamin D deficiency may cause cardiovascular problems leading to heat stroke and death. It is believed that when vitamin D is low, the activity of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) surges. Increased activity of the renin-angiotensin system leads to high blood pressure. If the required amount of vitamin D is not supplied for an extended period, high blood pressure may cause cardiovascular diseases.
Another study shows the positive effect this vitamin has on vascular cell growth. Vitamin D plays an essential role in cell differentiation and proliferation. In this way, it improves the lining of blood vessels and reduces inflammation, and repairs the damaged vascular cells, thus decreasing the risk of atherosclerosis. Recent studies show a link between vitamin D deficiency and atherosclerosis.
Hence, vitamin D can play a vital role in improving heart health, regulating blood pressure, and protecting blood vessels.
The most common type of diabetes is adult-onset diabetes. In adult-onset diabetes, the body cannot regulate and use sugar in the usual way. Typically, it affects adults, but research has shown that it can begin in early childhood. There are two fundamental problems that the body has to face in adult-onset diabetes:
This results in low energy levels, tiredness, delayed healing, vision problems, and frequent urination. Recent studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency is the leading cause of the onset of adult-onset diabetes, among others. Vitamin D is vital in regulating glucose metabolism in two ways.
There are vitamin D receptors present on pancreatic beta cells. Vitamin D regulates and increases insulin secretion through the pancreas using these receptors. Furthermore, it also plays an instrumental role in improving insulin sensitivity and decreasing insulin resistance.
The colon is the central part of the large intestine, while the rectum connects the colon with the anus. Sometimes cell division in either of these parts becomes out of control, leading to small cellular outgrowths known as polyps. If unchecked, some of these polyps may develop into cancer. This type of cancer is known as colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer comes third on the list of most common types of cancer and affects older adults typically.
The latest research shows a link between a high level and a reduced risk of colorectal cancer. It is established that people with higher levels in their bodies are less likely to get colorectal cancer.
It is not clear how exactly vitamin D protects from colorectal cancer. According to some researchers, it may help regulate genes that control cell differentiation, growth, and survival. Any of these functions can cause cancer if not appropriately maintained. Moreover, it promotes programmed cell death to protect the colon from polyps formation.
The most common type of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, is a progressive neurologic disorder. It begins with a mild memory loss and damages parts of the brain related to language, memory, and thought. Over time it affects the ability of a person to respond to the environment and communication skills. The person ill with Alzheimer’s finds it difficult to carry out the most straightforward task.
According to research, people with extreme deficiency of it are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those with an average amount of vitamin D. According to researchers, it plays a vital role in regulating neuroprotection, neuroplasticity, neurotransmission, and neurotrophy. Hence, a low level of vitamin D can affect these processes, leading to brain disorders like dementia and Alzheimer’s. It is believed that an increased level of vitamin D helps improve the brain’s cognitive function in patients ill with Alzheimer’s, reducing the deteriorative symptoms resulting from the disease.
Most of these vitamins produce endogenously by the body when expose to sunlight.
Our skin contains a chemical known as 7-dehydrocholesterol. This chemical is a steroid and precursor to vitamin D. When it comes into contact with sunlight, it converts into pre-D isomers. After a few steps, this pre-D isomer is converted into D3 and then transported to the liver, where it is changed into calcidiol. Calcidiol converts into the active form of vitamin D known as calcitriol.
Although our body can synthesize it endogenously, dietary sources of vitamin D are also important. This is because almost 50% of the world population cannot get enough exposure to sunlight. There are limited foods that are rich in this vitamin. Among these sources, fatty fish like tuna and salmon are the best sources of vitamin D. Other sources might include mushrooms, egg yolk, fortified foods, beef liver, yogurt, orange juices, etc.
Salmon, the fish rich in fats, is probably the best source of vitamin D. However, there is a big difference in the amount of vitamin D present in wild salmon and farmed salmon. According to research, 100 grams of serving wild salmon contains about 988 IU of vitamin D. On the other hand, the same amount of farmed Atlantic salmon contains 526 IU of vitamin D.
Cod liver oil is widely used to cure vitamin D deficiency in children worldwide. One hundred grams of cod liver oil contains about 10,000 IU of vitamin D. However, it is usually used as a supplement, not food.
Canned tuna is another best source of vitamin D. It contains 268 IU of vitamin D per 100 grams.
Although not the best source, egg yolk serves as an instant supply of vitamin D. One egg yolk contains about 18 IU of vitamin D.
Mushroom consider the only plant source of vitamin D. It produces vitamin D on exposure to sunlight, just like us. However, it only contains vitamin D2, which is not as good as vitamin D3.
Fortified foods like oatmeal, yogurt, cheese, cow’s milk, and cereals are also good sources of vitamin D.
Genetics also plays a vital role in improving your vitamin D level. A gene known as VDR encodes vitamin D receptors that help absorb and retain minerals in the intestine. Your genetic makeup is vital in determining your specific needs for Vitamin D and all the other nutrients.
Your body’s requirements for vitamin D varies based on your genetics. Therefore, it is necessary to determine vitamin D metabolism based on genetic makeup to optimize your vitamin D level. The Nutrition Panel tests for your genetic vitamin D metabolism. HealthCodes DNA’s Nutrition Panel allows you to discover your genetic vitamin D metabolism. After getting our Nutrition Panel Test, you will be able to learn about your body’s daily need for this essential vitamin. In this way, you can optimize your vitamin level and enjoy a healthy life with our end-to-end support.
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Web Behavior Information. We and our third-party partners use cookies and similar technologies (such as web beacons, tags, scripts and device identifiers) to help us recognize you, customize and improve your experience, provide security, analyze usage of our Services (such as to analyze your interactions with the results, reports, and other features of the Service), gather demographic information about our user base, to offer our products and services to you, to monitor the success of marketing programs, and to serve targeted advertising on our site and on other sites around the Internet. We and our third-party partners do not use your sensitive information, such as Genetic Information and Self-Reported Information for targeted advertising. We may receive reports based on the use of these technologies by these companies on an individual as well as aggregated basis. Users can control the use of cookies at the individual browser level. If you reject cookies, you may still use our site, but your ability to use some features or areas of our site may be limited.
As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information may include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and/or clickstream data. We may combine this automatically collected log information with other information we collect about you, such as your user profile ID or order number. We do this to improve services we offer you, and to improve marketing, analytics, and site functionality.
When you access our Service by or through a mobile device, we may receive or collect and store a unique identification numbers associated with your device or our mobile application (including, for example, a UDID, Unique ID for Advertisers (“IDFA”), Google Ad ID, or Windows Advertising ID), mobile carrier, device type, model and manufacturer, mobile device operating system brand and model, phone number, and, depending on your mobile device settings, your geographical location data, including GPS coordinates (e.g. latitude and/or longitude) or similar information regarding the location of your mobile device.
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We are always working to enhance our Services with new products, applications and features that may result in the collection of new and different types of information. We will update our privacy statement, as needed.
HealthCodes DNA will use and share your personal information with third-parties only in the ways that are described in this privacy statement.
We use the information described above in Section 3 to operate, provide, analyze and improve our Services. These activities may include, among other things, using your information in a manner consistent with other commitments in this privacy statement, to:
You may be able to opt-in, opt-out or otherwise adjust your preferences of having your information used for certain of these activities. Please see below to learn more.
We use mobile analytics software to allow us to better understand the functionality of our Mobile Software on your phone. This software may record information such as how often you use the application, the events that occur within the application, aggregated usage, performance data, and where the application was downloaded from. We do not link the information we store within the analytics software to any personally identifiable information you submit within the mobile application.
You have the choice to participate in HealthCodes DNA Research by providing your consent. “HealthCodes DNA Research” refers to research aimed at publication in peer-reviewed journals and other research funded by the federal government (such as the National Institutes of Health – NIH) conducted by HealthCodes DNA. HealthCodes DNA Research may be sponsored by, conducted on behalf of, or in collaboration with third-parties, such as non-profit foundations, academic institutions or pharmaceutical companies. HealthCodes DNA Research may study a specific group or population, identify potential areas or targets for therapeutics development, conduct or support the development of drugs, diagnostics or devices to diagnose, predict or treat medical or other health conditions, work with public, private and/or non-profit entities on genetic research initiatives, or otherwise create, commercialize, and apply this new knowledge to improve health care. HealthCodes DNA Research uses your aggregate or individual-level Genetic Information and Self-Reported Information as specified in the Terms of Service.
Consent process for research. Your Genetic Information and Self-Reported Information may be used for HealthCodes DNA Research only if you have consented to this use by completing a Research Initiatives Consent Document. If you have completed a Research Initiatives Consent Document:
Academic institutions, healthcare organizations, and other groups are always conducting interesting new research projects. We want to make you aware of these opportunities. While we do not share individual-level Genetic Information or Self-Reported Information with third-parties without your consent, from time to time we may inform you of third-party research opportunities for which you may be eligible. For example, if a university tells us about a new cancer research project, we may send an email to HealthCodes DNA members who potentially fit the relevant eligibility criteria based on their Self-Reported Information to make them aware of the research project and provide a link to participate with the research organization conducting the study.
NOTE: Our service providers act on HealthCodes DNA’s behalf. While we implement procedures and contractual terms to protect the confidentiality and security of your information, we cannot guarantee the confidentiality and security of your information due to the inherent risks associated with storing and transmitting data electronically.
When you purchase a testing kit and report from HealthCodes DNA, you are instructed to send a saliva sample to our third-party laboratory with a unique barcode label. The unique barcode identifies you to us but not to the laboratory. We may also be required to provide to the laboratory, your sex and date of birth or age pursuant to clinical laboratory requirements such as the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA). No other Registration Information such as your name, address, email, phone number or other contact information) is required or provided to the laboratory. The receiving personnel at the laboratory will remove and discard your “sender information” from the packaging (e.g., name, address) before testing personnel receive the samples for processing. Receiving personnel do not perform testing, and testing personnel handle saliva samples that are labeled only with the unique barcode. DNA and saliva samples are destroyed after the laboratory completes its work, provided that laboratory legal and regulatory requirements no longer require the actual samples to be maintained. A de-identified copy of genotyping data may be kept in accordance with CLIA. The laboratory securely sends the resulting Genetic Information to our third party reporting company along with your unique barcode. Genetic Information is stored securely on our servers; the laboratory also stores your Genetic Information, but again, labeled only with the barcode.
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Under certain circumstances your information may be subject to disclosure pursuant to judicial or other government subpoenas, warrants, or orders, or in coordination with regulatory authorities, we may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. HealthCodes DNA will preserve and disclose any and all information to law enforcement agencies or others if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal or regulatory process (such as a judicial proceeding, court order, or government inquiry) or obligations that HealthCodes DNA may owe pursuant to ethical and other professional rules, laws, and regulations; (b) enforce the HealthCodes DNA Terms of Service and other policies; (c) respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third-parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of HealthCodes DNA, its employees, its users, its clients, and the public.
NOTE: If you are participating in HealthCodes DNA Research, HealthCodes DNA will withhold disclosure of your personal information involved in such research in response to judicial or other government subpoenas, warrants or orders in accordance with any applicable Certificate of Confidentiality that HealthCodes DNA and/or any of its third party providers has obtained from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). There are limits to what the Certificate of Confidentiality covers so please visit the Certificates of Confidentiality Kiosk ( https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/coc/index.htm).
If your Registration Information changes, you may access, correct or update most of it from your Account page. You may also modify and delete certain of your information. Please note that you may not be able to delete User Content that has been shared with others through the Service and that you may not be able to delete information that has been shared with third-parties, though we can work with you to prohibit your data from being shared with third-parties in the future. We will respond to your request to access within 30 days.
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You may decide to disclose your personal information to friends and/or family members, doctors or other health care professionals, and/or other individuals outside of our Services, including through third-party services such as social networks and third-party apps that connect to our website and mobile apps through our application programming interface (“API”). These third-parties may use your personal information differently than we do under this Privacy Statement. Please make such choices carefully and review the privacy policies of all other third-parties involved in the transaction. For example, if you have enabled a HealthCodes DNA sharing feature with another person who downloads a third-party app that uses our API, your information may also be obtained by that third-party app developer and, potentially, by other users of that third-party app.
In general, personal information, once shared or disclosed, can be difficult to contain or retrieve. HealthCodes DNA will have no responsibility or liability for any consequences that may result because you have released or shared personal information with others.
If you no longer wish to participate in our Services or no longer wish to have your personal information be used, you may close your account by sending a request to support@healthcodesdna.com. When closing an account, we remove all Genetic Information within your account (or profile) within thirty (30) days of our receipt of your request. As stated in any applicable Consent Document, however, Genetic Information and/or Self-Reported Information that you have previously provided and for which you have given consent to use in HealthCodes DNA Research cannot be removed from ongoing or completed studies that use the information. Our contracted genotyping laboratory may also retain your Genetic Information as required by local law and we may retain backup copies for a limited period of time pursuant to our data protection policies. In addition, we retain limited Registration Information related to your order history (e.g., name, contact, and transaction data) as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services, as well as for accounting, audit and compliance purposes.
HealthCodes DNA takes seriously the trust you place in us. To prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, to maintain data accuracy, and to ensure the appropriate use of information, HealthCodes DNA uses a range of physical, technical, and administrative measures to safeguard your Personal Information. In particular, all connections to and from our website and mobile application are encrypted using Extended Validation Secure Socket Layer (EV SSL) technology.
Please recognize that protecting your Personal Information is also your responsibility. We ask you to be responsible for safeguarding your password, secret questions and answers, and other authentication information you use to access our Services. You should not disclose your authentication information to any third-party and should immediately notify HealthCodes DNA of any unauthorized use of your password. HealthCodes DNA cannot secure Personal Information that you release on your own or that you request us to release.
Your information collected through the Service may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which HealthCodes DNA or its subsidiaries, affiliates or service providers maintain facilities and, therefore, your information may be subject to the laws of those other jurisdictions which may be different from the laws of your country of residence.
In the event that HealthCodes DNA goes through a business transition such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, your information will likely be among the assets transferred. In such a case, your information would remain subject to the promises made in any pre-existing Privacy Statement.
HealthCodes DNA provides links to third-party websites operated by organizations not affiliated with HealthCodes DNA. HealthCodes DNA does not disclose your information to organizations operating such linked third-party websites. HealthCodes DNA does not review or endorse, and is not responsible for, the privacy practices of these organizations. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of each and every website that you visit. This Privacy Statement applies solely to information collected by HealthCodes DNA.
HealthCodes DNA is committed to protecting the privacy of children as well as adults. Neither HealthCodes DNA nor any of its Services are designed for, intended to attract, or directed toward children under the age of 18. A parent or guardian, however, may collect a saliva sample from, create an account for, and provide information related to, his or her child. The parent or guardian assumes full responsibility for ensuring that the information that he/she provides to HealthCodes DNA about his or her child is kept secure and that the information submitted is accurate.
Whenever this Privacy Statement is changed in a material way, a notice will be posted as part of this Privacy Statement and on our customers’ account login pages for 30 days. After 30 days the changes will become effective. In addition, all customers will receive an email with notification of the changes prior to the change becoming effective.
If you have questions about this Privacy Statement, please email HealthCodes DNA at info@HealthCodesDNA.com.
