When someone asks which nutrients are the most important, my response is typically: All of them.

Truthfully, all 2,000 of the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients in existence are beneficial in their own way.

But there is one Superstar that deserves special recognition…

Vitamin D!

Here’s why:

It’s something to smile about!

When most people think of vitamin D they think “strong bones” but that’s just a drop in the vitamin D bucket.

Vitamin D does help to regulate the level of calcium in your blood and in doing so, it supports healthy bones (and prevents osteoporosis too!).

But it’s also important for the bones in your mouth—your teeth!

Studies have shown that in adults over 50, a lack of vitamin D is associated with an increased risk of periodontal (gum) disease.

Immune regulation

Vitamin D helps regulate your immune systemactivity by “taming” excessive, inflammatory immune responses—such as those seen in autoimmune conditions like Crohn’s, colitis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, Type 1 diabetes, psoriasis and Graves’ disease.

It’s also helpful for allergies and asthma, which are other forms of inflammatory immune reactions.

Type 2 diabetes prevention 

The partnership between vitamin D and blood calcium goes way beyond your bones.

Calcium plays a key role in your body’s ability to control glucose and insulin levels, so having adequate blood calcium (which in turn depends on having enough vitamin D) is crucial to prevent Type 2 diabetes.

In addition, vitamin D also encourages proper pancreatic function. Since your pancreas produces insulin, vitamin D indirectly supports healthy blood glucose levels in this manner too.

There’s even MORE!

Here are some of vitamin D’s other impressive functions and health benefits:

• Digestion and absorption of nutrients

• Lower blood pressure 

• Heart and cardiovascular health

• Brain and mental health

• Neurological health

• Muscle health

• Skin and hair health

• Cancer prevention

• Reproductive health

• Respiratory health

• Proper carbohydrate and fat metabolism

Whew!

Could you be running low?

The answer to that is: Absolutely!

Current estimates show that up to 90 percent of us has a degree of vitamin D deficiency!

Here are some risk factors to look out for:

• You live in the north where sunlight is limited for a good portion of the year.

• You have dark skin. Dark skinned individuals typically don’t produce as much vitamin D as lighter skinned people.

• You're over age 50. As we age, our skin’s production of vitamin D decreases.

• You're overweight. Since vitamin D is fat-soluble, your body fat can act like a sponge and sop up the vitamin D, leaving less for all your other cells.

• You have digestive issues or have had your gallbladder removed. Digestive problems or weakened bile from missing your gallbladder can affect your abilty to digest and absorb fats, which are needed for your body to absorb vitamin D.

• You feel moody or depressed. Vitamin D is essential for mental health. Many people with depression have reported experiencing a significant improvement in their symptoms with vitamin D supplementation.

Make sure you have enough!

With all that vitamin D does for you, it’s crucial to make sure your body maintains health-supporting levels of this vital nutrient.

Your overall health and quite possibly your life could depend on it!

Let Optimum DK Formula with FruiteX-B fill this critical need for you. Optimum DK Formula contains a therapeutic 5,000 IU dose of Vitamin D3, plus its important partners Vitamin K (in the forms of K1 and K2) and the mineral boron.

All of these nutrients work synergistically to help enhance your health in so many ways as well as fight disease!

To your health,

Sherry Brescia

PS: Here are 3 fun facts you might not know about vitamin D:

1- The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of 600 IUs is WAAAY too low

When the RDAs were established for vitamin D, they were based only on its role in bone health.

So that clearly didn’t take into account its role in cardiovascular health, the immune system, blood sugar control, cancer prevention and fighting depression, among other things!

A health-supporting, therapeutic dose of vitamin D is at least 4,000 – 5,000 IUs. (That’s why Optimum DK Formula provides 5,000 IUs.)

2- You can’t always produce it

Your body is designed to manufacture vitamin D when your skin is exposed to sunlight, but there are a few limitations.

In the northern hemisphere, vitamin D production is dangerously low for most people from November through April (for obvious reasons).

Plus sunscreens block your skin’s ability to make vitamin D. A sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher is enough to halt or seriously impair vitamin D production.

And air pollution plays a role in lowering vitamin D production too.

3- It’s more like a hormone than a vitamin

Vitamin D functions more like a hormone (similar to estrogen, adrenaline or testosterone) than a vitamin.

Hormones work by looking for cells that have “receptors” for that particular hormone, and then attach themselves to the cells to carry out their work.

Well, most of your body’s cells have vitamin D “receptors” on them (that should clue you in on how important it is), and that is how vitamin D works its magic in your body!