Vitamin D and the Raw Vegan Diet: A Recipe for Deficiency?

Are you concerned about your vitamin D intake?

Besides protein and vitamin B12, vitamin D deficiency is one of the biggest reasons people have reservations about going and/or staying raw (or vegan, for that matter).

This becomes especially true around this time of year, when the sun is waning and the cold temps are movin’ on in.

There’s no question that vitamin D is essential to human health.  Vitamin D is necessary for the proper absorption of both calcium and phosphorus.  I’m sure you have seen images of the disfiguring effects of rickets, a disorder caused by a lack of vitamin D in the body.

Did you know that vitamin D is also necessary to process vitamin C and deficiency is implicated in the cause of 17 varieties of cancer?

Sometimes the fact that so many people (cooked and raw foodists alike) dwell on vitamin D when it is SO easy (and so free) to obtain really boggles my mind.

Then I remember all the COMPLETELY WRONG and often COMPLETELY BIASED information that we are all indoctrinated with from a young age regarding the source of this vital vitamin.

It’s time to debunk all the bull, don’t you think?

Where Does Vitamin D Come from?

Few will argue that vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is necessary for healthy teeth and bones.

However, there has been quite some debate about how exactly to achieve proper levels of vitamin D.

According to traditional medicine, the only way we can get enough vitamin D is by consuming fortified milk, eating various species of fish, or by some form of supplementation.

Hmmm…I wonder what Dr. Colin Campbell, author of the renowned nutritional study The China Study, has to say about that?

Although some of the vitamin D present in our bodies may come from food, we can usually get all that we need from a few hours of sunshine each week.  In fact, it is our ability to make our vitamin D that leads to the idea that it is not a vitamin; it is a hormone (i.e., made in one part of our body but functioning in another part).

The sun’s UV rays make vitamin D from a precursor chemical located in our skin.  Provided we get adequate sunshine, this is all the vitamin D we need.

And John Jacob Cannell, MD from Vitamin D council, is there anything that you would like to add?

Remember, our ancestors lived naked in the sun for several million years. Then 50,000 years ago, some of us migrated north and south to places with less sun. Then we put on clothes, started working inside and living in cities where buildings blocked the sun. Then we started traveling in cars instead of walking, or riding horses, and glass blocked even more of the UVB in the sunlight. Then, only a few years ago, we started actively avoiding the sun and putting on sunblock. All this time we humans have been steadily reducing the tissue levels of the most potent steroid hormone in our bodies, one with powerful anti-cancer properties.

The really significant reductions in sunlight exposure have occurred since the industrial revolution, just the time the “diseases of civilization” like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer seem to have greatly increased. Pretty frightening when you think about it.

Even Dr. Joel Fuhrman, who advocates supplementation in his book Eat To Live, has this to say:

Most of us work indoors and avoid the sun or wear sunscreen, which lowers our vitamin D exposure.

In other words, vitamin D does not come from packaged breakfast cereals or rancid fish oils.  It comes from good ole’ Mr. Sun.

How Much Sunshine?

The US RDA for vitamin D is 400 IU (international units) for an adult.

Dr. Mercola recommends that each person should get about 5,000 units of vitamin D everyday.

Sounds like a lot, right?

Not really, especially when you consider that only 15-30 minutes of full exposure (or as close to full as you can get) produces about 10,000 IU of vitamin D!

What About Sunscreen?

Ah, sunscreen.  That fruity, vanilla-y smelling goop that reminds us of beaches, bikinis, and family BBQs.

Snap out of it!

Not only are most sunscreens full of toxic ingredients, but putting them on your skin actually blocks the absorption of UVB rays, which is what we need to make vitamin D.

A healthy (and free) alternative?  Shade.

If you feel yourself becoming uncomfortably warm in the sunshine, find yourself a nice shady spot, put on some breathable fabric, wear a hat, etc.

Simple, yet solid advice.

D3?

Vitamin D (as well as vitamin D supplements) actually comes in two forms: vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol).  Although once thought to be equivalent, it is now known that vitamin D3 (manufactured from exposure to UVB rays) is not absorbed by the skin right away.  It actually takes up to 48 hours before the majority of the vitamin D you have been exposed to has entered your bloodstream.

What’s the big deal?

After a nice, sweaty day spent outside, what’s the first thing we want to do?  Take a shower.

And what do we typically do in the shower?  Lather on lots of sudsy soap.

Uh oh.  The problem here is that you are not just washing away your sweat with that soap.  If it’s been less than 48 hours, you are stripping your skin of all that precious vitamin D!

The solution?  Well, there are a couple:

#1: Wait two days to shower

I may not wear makeup or lots of fancy accessories, but I am still a lady.

I am not WAITING two days after sweaty time in the sun to rinse off!

#2: Only use water

I like to take a shower almost everyday so this is my personal preference.

I know, I know.  Only water?!

If you eat a healthy, low fat raw vegan diet, without added salt, spices, or condiments, you really do not need to use soap.  In fact, I NEVER use any form of soap, natural or not, to clean my skin.

But I’ll save that for another post.

Problems with Supplementation

The research out there on problems with supplementation of any kind, including vitamin D, is rather extensive.

One particular study conducted in 2008 showed that vitamin D supplementation can actually block the Vitamin D Nuclear Receptor (VDR), which is necessary for the “repression or transcription of hundreds of genes, including genes associated with diseases ranging from cancers to multiple sclerosis.”

Here is a quote from the professor at Australia’s Murdoch University School of Biological Medicine and Biotechnology, Trevor Marshall, Ph.D., as quoted in a ScienceDaily article on the study:

Molecular biology is now forcing us to re-think the idea that a low measured value of vitamin D means we simply must add more to our diet. Supplemental vitamin D has been used for decades, and yet the epidemics of chronic disease, such as heart disease and obesity, are just getting worse.

Our disease model has shown us why low levels of vitamin D are observed in association with major and chronic illness,’ Marshall added. ‘Vitamin D is a secosteroid hormone, and the body regulates the production of all it needs. In fact, the use of supplements can be harmful, because they suppress the immune system so that the body cannot fight disease and infection effectively.

Debbie Took from RawforLife makes a very good point regarding supplementation and animals in the United Kingdom:

The animal world is full of clues as to how to live healthfully. So, as looking at domesticated mammals (ingesting various unnatural substances in their feeds) would complicate things, let’s consider wild mammals such as squirrels, deer, rabbits. They don’t supplement (and neither do they eat oily fish or vitamin D-fortified milk).

Sure, they’ll get lots more sunlight each summer than we will (which gives us a clue as to lifestyle adjustments to be made). However, the supplement manufacturers like to make us feel that no matter how much sunshine we get in the UK summer our health is going to be compromised if we don’t take D supplements in the winter. Yet these animals are doing just fine! (but note they don’t sit behind windows, soap themselves down daily, drink alcohol or overeat either…)

Well said, Debbie!

I think I’ll take a lesson from my animal friends and stick with simple (and free) sunshine.

What About Winter Weather?

Because vitamin D is fat-soluble, it can be stored by the body.  This means that you have the potential to get enough sunshine during the warm months to last you through the winter.

But don’t think you can’t get a wicked tan in the winter time.  Did you know that you can get pretty seriously burned from sunlight that is reflected off of snow?

Now, you won’t catch me sunbathing in 30 degree weather and I certainly do not recommend it.  But if you’re a fan of cold weather (or a masochist), be my guest!

My Advice to You

If you haven’t already, be sure to make the most of the last couple of weeks of mild weather before it gets too cold.

Remember, all it takes is 15-30 minutes outdoors (unless you have dark skin, in which case you will require more exposure) to receive adequate vitamin D.

You can spare a few measly minutes for your health, right?

Go raw, be fit, and get some sun,

Swayze

P.S. For such a simple solution, this post did turn out rather long.  I hope you got lots out of it!