Migraines, lower back and neck pain, poor attention and concentration, irritability, anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, immune-dysfunction, ear infections, heart disease, the common flu — what do all these conditions have in common? It may come as a shock to many but research indicates that all these ailments are linked to vitamin D deficiency. Forty-one percent of Americans are deficient in the vitamin, and women of child-bearing age are especially susceptible, according to a 2010 Nutrition Research study. The numbers are even higher in the African American and immigrant population.

Vitamin D, famous for making stronger bones, is synthesized when our skin is directly exposed to sunlight and ultraviolet radiation (UVB). The more sunscreen-free skin that’s exposed to the sun, the more vitamin D potentially synthesized. What is less well-known, in the public sphere at least, is the impact vitamin D has on our overall wellbeing.

The Vitamin D Council reports, “A lack of vitamin D has also been linked to some other conditions such as cancer, asthma, Type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, Alzheimer’s and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s, and Type-1 diabetes.”

Given that vitamin D deficiency causes sleep disorders, our bodies are robbed of deep and REM sleep, which is when the body and brain heal, thus rendering us vulnerable to chronic diseases, aches, and pains, Dr. Stasha Gominak, a neurologist in Tyler, Texas, points out on her website. “In the winter, the UVB light goes away and our D level goes lower. Low D signals the body to sleep longer, gain weight, and hibernate. Hormone D is used by every organ in our body to do its job correctly. People who are D deficient are essentially in permanent winter; they get depressed, feel less active, sleep longer but don’t feel rested, they get sick more often and stay sick longer,” says Dr. Gominak.

 

Vitamin D — It’s Really a Hormone

Vitamin D influences our very DNA and nearly 3,000 different genes. “The word ‘vitamin’ means ‘something my body needs that I can’t make, so I must get it from the food.’ D hormone is, instead, a chemical that we make on our skin from sun exposure. It is a hormone like thyroid, estrogen, or testosterone. Using the proper word ‘hormone’ reminds us that it affects multiple parts of the body and that it is not ‘extra’. It is essential to every cell in the body and it is not in the food,” states Dr. Gominak’s research. Sun-dried shitake mushrooms and several types of fish do contain vitamin D but are often not consumed in quantities that meet the daily requirements for the vitamin.

 

A Rarely Prescribed Antidote

Vitamin D aids development, starting in utero. The study “Relation of Schizophrenia Prevalence to Latitude, Climate, Fish Consumption, Infant Mortality, and Skin Color: A Role for Prenatal Vitamin D Deficiency and Infections?” states that vitamin D supplements taken by moms during pregnancy can potentially reduce the fetus’s chances of developing schizophrenia later in life. Vitamin D supplements have also been seen to reduce ear infections in children prone to them. Nonetheless, vitamin D is a rarely prescribed antidote.

As Sarene Alsharif, a nutritionist in Rockford, Illinois, recalls, “My doctor thought I was crazy to have my vitamin D levels checked. Like cholesterol and glucose, doctors should [routinely] check your vitamin D.” Vitamin D is the only daily vitamin she recommends to her clients.

Dr. Priya Bansal, an allergist in Bloomingdale, Illinois, was the sixth physician I consulted for a severe skin condition over the years. She was the only one to suggest a blood test to check my vitamin D levels. To my relief, addressing the deficiency became part of the treatment.

Mateen Hussain of Glendale Heights, Illinois, too found that vitamin D was not on doctors’ radars. To help control insomnia and anxiety, his neurologist recommended Ambien. “Ambien addresses a symptom, not the root cause. Its side effects include anxiety, one of the issues I wanted treated in the first place. There was also the potential to get hooked on it for life,” says Hussain. Deciding to do his own research instead, Hussain stumbled upon vitamin D. “I found that the dosage most doctors prescribe to vitamin D deficient patients is incorrect and based on very outdated research. What the FDA suggests as normal is half that recommended by modern scientific evidence.”

 

A Lifestyle-Related Deficiency

Lifestyle, skin tone, where we live, time of day, and length of exposure to the sun all contribute to our vitamin D levels. Given that our skin synthesizes vitamin D when exposed to the sun, one would think that countries such as Saudi Arabia and Oman, located “on the earth’s sunbelt,” would have no vitamin D deficiency issues. Studies indicate a reality that’s to the contrary. The heat there keeps much of the population indoors and out of the sun.

According to Dr. Muhammad Munir Chaudry, IFANCA president, in an April 2014 article for Nutritional Outlook titled “How Halal Certification Can Help Boost Your Dietary Supplements Business,” “the growth in the halal-certified nutritional product category shows no signs of slowing down. Halal dietary supplements, vitamin pills, and nutritional foods are crossing regional borders; our IFANCA auditors are now traveling to China and Peru as much as they travel to companies in the United States and Canada.” Today, IFANCA clients include large nutritional corporations such as Sunrider, Nutrilite, Abbott, DSM, Naturex, Kerry Group, Cargill, and Danisco (a Dupont Company), all of whom “have used halal as an important growth strategy for many years,” adds Dr. Chaudry.

Supplement manufacturers such as Sunrider International, originally IFANCA-certified in 1994, had 415 different halal-certified products for worldwide distribution by 2009. Similarly, IFANCA-certified Nutrilite Inc.’s product range included 67 halal-certified products launched in 11 markets from 2000 to 2010. Both companies’ product lines are available via representatives and online. For a list of supplements certified by IFANCA, please visit www.ifanca.org.

Zaira Ahmed, a registered dietitian/nutritionist from Somerset, New Jersey, also points to cultural ideals of beauty as partly responsible for reduced sun exposure. “I know, at least for South Asians, women are discouraged from stepping into sunlight or spending the day outdoors because they may get ‘dark’, meaning ‘less beautiful.’ It’s sad really.”

We may also assume that if we are spending time outdoors, we’re getting enough sun. That’s not always the case. Season, altitude, latitude, and our clothing matter. In the winter, states in the northern latitudes don’t even get sufficient sunlight for the skin to synthesize vitamin D.

Our skin tones also determine how much sun we absorb. Pale skin generates vitamin D quicker than dark skin. Fifteen minutes of the sun, directly on our skin, could suffice for lighter-skinned folk, while a couple of hours are needed for the same results if you’re darker-toned.

Muslims, historically, have populated high UVB, sunny nations closer to the equator. Their often darker skin tone served them well as it is protective against UVB. With migration to latitudes such as the United States, not only is there less sun available to begin with but their skin tone slows its rate of absorption, says Ahmed. Conservatively clad Muslim women may get even less sunlight, given that only their hands and faces are exposed. Often, unable to rely on the sun alone to synthesize vitamin D, supplementation becomes necessary.

Locally or abroad, current daily lifestyles revolve around being indoors — whether we are at work, play, or exercising. The degree to which we are protecting our skin from the sun does us no favors either.

 

Get Your Liquid Sun Fix

The vitamin D infused in our gallon jugs of milk is insufficient. A cup of milk has only 100 IU of vitamin D. The United States dietary recommendation, as of 2005, is 1,000 IUs daily. Dr. Andrew Weil, founder and director of The Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, advocates 2,000 IUs daily. According to GrassrootsHealth and their D*action project, most adults need about 8,000 IUs of vitamin D a day. Depending how low your vitamin D levels are, you may need 50,000 IU capsules of vitamin D3, available by prescription.

Vitamin D3 supplements are significantly more potent and better absorbed by the body than Vitamin D2. They are available in vegan, plant-based pills as well as animal-based ones. As with most vitamins and supplements, many vitamin D supplements contain gelatin. To be sure yours are halal, look for the Crescent-M logo on the bottle. See below for a list of IFANCA halal-certified vitamin D supplements.

Boscogen,Inc. Lynae® Vitamin D 1000 I.U.

Boscogen, Inc. Lynae® Vitamin D3 5,000 I.U.

Boscogen, Inc. Lynae® Vitamin D3 50,000 I.U.

Boscogen, Inc. LYNAE® Vitamin D3 50,000 IU

Nutrilite Vitamin D3

 

Test Your Vitamin D IQ

  1. You can take a calcium or vitamin D supplement to strengthen your bones. False. For strong bones, you need them both plus exercise.
  3. Vitamin D should be taken with food. True. Vitamin D is fat soluble and better absorbed with food.
  4. Vitamin D supplements are best taken at night. False. If you are suffering from insomnia, vitamin D will continue to keep you awake.
  5. Our skin produces the most vitamin D if exposed to the sun during the middle of the day. True.
  6. Sunscreen, being behind glass, cloudy skies and/ or pollution block UV rays, preventing the body from synthesizing vitamin D. True.
  7. The older we get, the less vitamin D our skin makes naturally. True.

 

According to Dr. Muhammad Munir Chaudry, IFANCA president, in an April 2014 article for Nutritional Outlook titled “How Halal Certification Can Help Boost Your Dietary Supplements Business,” “the growth in the halal-certified nutritional product category shows no signs of slowing down. Halal dietary supplements, vitamin pills, and nutritional foods are crossing regional borders; our IFANCA auditors are now traveling to China and Peru as much as they travel to companies in the United States and Canada.” Today, IFANCA clients include large nutritional corporations such as Sunrider, Nutrilite, Abbott, DSM, Naturex, Kerry Group, Cargill, and Danisco (a Dupont Company), all of whom “have used halal as an important growth strategy for many years,” adds Dr. Chaudry.

Supplement manufacturers such as Sunrider International, originally IFANCA-certified in 1994, had 415 different halal-certified products for worldwide distribution by 2009. Similarly, IFANCA-certified Nutrilite Inc.’s product range included 67 halal-certified products launched in 11 markets from 2000 to 2010. Both companies’ product lines are available via representatives and online. For a list of supplements certified by IFANCA, please visit www.ifanca.org.

Naazish YarKhan has bylines in more than 50 media outlets including Chicago Tribune and Huffington Post.

Editor’s Note: To read more about children and vitamin D consumption, visit http://healthyplate5.blogspot.com.