Important things you should know about Vitamin D

When sunshine strikes your skin, your body produces vitamin D. Vitamin D can also be obtained from food or supplementation.

The body's production of vitamin D is a complicated process. It begins when the skin absorbs rays from the ultraviolet B (UVB) section of the light spectrum, which are undetectable to the naked eye. The liver and kidneys also play a role in converting the vitamin into a form that the body can utilize.

It's difficult to determine all of the elements that can influence your vitamin D level. Here are six of the most significant.

During the winter, the farther you live from the Equator, the less vitamin D–producing UVB sunshine reaches the earth's surface. 

From November to February, residents of Boston, for example, produce very little if any vitamin. UVB exposure is also limited by short days, also clothing that covers the legs and arms makes it difficult to produce Vitamin D. 

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Read - Symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency

Carbon particles in the air, which come from the combustion of fossil fuels, wood, and other materials, scatter and absorb UVB rays, reducing vitamin D production. 

Ozone, on the other hand, absorbs UVB rays, therefore holes in the ozone layer produced by pollution may actually increase vitamin D levels.

UVB light is blocked by sunscreen, which prevents sunburn. In theory, this means that using sunscreen lowers vitamin D levels. 

However, because few people apply enough sunscreen to prevent all UVB rays or use sunscreen infrequently, its effects on vitamin D may not be significant. 

A well regarded Australian study found no change in vitamin D levels between those who were randomly allocated to wear sunscreen one summer and those who were given a placebo cream.

Melanin is the pigment that gives skin its dark color. It competes with the component in the skin that helps in the body's vitamin D production for UVB exposure. As a result, dark-skinned people require more UVB radiation to create the same amount of vitamin D as light-skinned people.

As body fat absorbs vitamin D, that could serve as a vitamin D storage, providing a source of the vitamin when consumption or production is low. 

Obesity, on the other hand, has been linked to low vitamin D levels, and being overweight has been proven to impact vitamin D bioavailability.

Older adults have lower levels of the substance in the skin than younger people that transforms UVB light into the vitamin D precursor.

There's also evidence that shows elderly people make less vitamin D than younger people, according to studies.

Also Read - Healthy foods that are high in Vitamin D