Vitamin D Council — Today,  Nov. 2, we ask all of you to celebrate the eighth annual Vitamin D Day. Vitamin D Day was created in 2009 in an effort to spread awareness on vitamin D and safe, sensible sun exposure.

Unfortunately, vitamin D deficiency continues to be a world problem in the year 2016. Our ancestors spent most of their time outdoors, in the sunshine, producing thousands of international units of vitamin D daily. However, in today’s society, many of us spend our time indoors, working 9 to 5 jobs and binging on Netflix in our free time.
Due to reduced vitamin D levels and increased sedentary behavior, we now face severe health consequences. We are currently seeing rising rates of autism, respiratory diseases, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Dr. John Cannell, Founder of the Vitamin D Council states,

“Humans make thousands of units of vitamin D within minutes of whole body exposure to sunlight. From what we know of nature, it is unlikely such a system evolved by chance.”

The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is estimated at 40% of the world’s population, and some experts believe this percentage is an understatement. Dr. Michael Holick, MD, PhD from Boston University School of Medicine states,

“We estimate that vitamin D deficiency is the most common medical condition in the world.”

The winter proves to be a more difficult time to receive the vitamin D that your body needs. Much of the population in the northern hemisphere can no longer get the vitamin D they need from the sun, requiring these individuals to seek supplementation.

On November 2nd, we challenge those of you reading this to take the time to become educated on the importance of vitamin D and safe sun exposure. Secondly, please spread your knowledge to those around you. Lastly, and most importantly, we challenge you to take a proactive approach to your health and ensure you maintain healthy vitamin D levels. This can simply be done by getting your 25(OH)D levels measured and obtaining adequate amounts of vitamin D through supplementation or safe sun exposure. We encourage all of you to take the pledge that you will follow these steps above in order to help yourself and others live healthier lives.