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Five Surprising Benefits Of Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a nutrient that virtually everyone will have heard of at some point, and most people will be aware that it is very beneficial for the human body. However, the majority of people have very little idea of the full range of benefits that it can offer for us.

This, combined with the fact that many people believe you can simply get enough vitamin D just by going outside, has led to many people not bothering to ensure they get sufficient quantities from either their diet or supplements.

This is a bit of a worry, as getting low on vitamin D will not just leave you missing out on its many benefits, it can lead to some serious health problems. With that in mind, we decided to create the following guide to 5 surprising benefits of vitamin D, to ensure that everyone knows just how important it is and hopefully encourage them to find a way to up their daily intake.

Table of Contents

What Is Vitamin D & How Does It Work?

Also known as cholecalciferol and “the sunshine vitamin”, Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that is required for numerous functions in the human body to take place. Studies show that people need a minimum of 10 to 20 mcg of vitamin D per day for their bodies to function correctly.

However, to enjoy all of the benefits it can offer to their fullest effect, most people need to take between 25 and 50 mcg per day, with 100 mcg being the optimal daily dose, as it can provide the maximum benefits of the compound, without putting the user at risk of experiencing any side effects (1).

Five Surprising Benefits Of Vitamin D

Boosts Testosterone Production & Levels

One of the most popular uses of vitamin D is to boost a person’s testosterone production and levels, which it is particularly good at as it combats the issue from multiple angles.

For starters, it helps to directly regulate the production of various hormones in the human body, including testosterone. It achieves this as it influences the function of the pituitary gland, which controls the release of testosterone from the testes.

Similarly, vitamin D helps to regulate parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels. As high PTH can negatively affect testosterone production, using vitamin D to balance these levels will support healthier testosterone production.

It then also activates androgen receptors, which are vital for the body to react to testosterone. This means the testosterone you have in your body will be able to work more effectively.

Finally, as vitamin D benefits your overall health in several ways, this will have a knock-on effect on your testosterone levels, as good overall health creates an optimal environment in which for testosterone production to occur

Numerous studies have shown that low vitamin D levels directly correlate to poor testosterone production and low testosterone levels, so taking a vitamin D supplement will help you keep both of these at optimal levels.

This is particularly true of older adults, especially men, as studies show that both vitamin D and testosterone levels drop as you age, so supplementing with vitamin D can counteract the age-related decline in both vitamin D and testosterone levels (2).

Supports The Immune System

Vitamin D plays a crucial role in supporting the immune system, especially the innate immune system, which is the body’s first line of defence, both directly and indirectly.

This is first and foremost because Vitamin D receptors (VDRs) are present in almost every immune cell. When vitamin D binds to these receptors, it triggers the immune cells to become active and increase their ability to fight pathogens. This means the range of ways in which vitamin D aids the immune system is vast.

It regulates the function and production of key immune cells, such as T cells, macrophages, dendritic cells and neutrophils, which are vital in detecting and responding to pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and other foreign invaders, enabling them to combat these infections more effectively.

It promotes more effective production of antimicrobial peptides like cathelicidin, which are naturally occurring substances that help protect the body from pathogens by disrupting the cell walls of bacteria and viruses, preventing their growth and spread.

Vitamin D helps to reduce inflammation, which is extremely harmful to the immune system, by regulating the production of certain cytokines, which are proteins involved in cell signalling. By reducing the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and increasing the level of anti-inflammatory cytokines, it stops excessive inflammation, as well as tissue damage and other health issues.

Some studies also suggest that vitamin D helps prevent autoimmune diseases by ensuring that the immune system doesn’t become overactive and mistakenly attack the body’s cells and healthy tissue.

Finally, maintaining adequate vitamin D levels reduces the risk of certain respiratory infections and chronic diseases, which will allow the immune system to focus on more pressing issues (3).

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Improves Bone Health & Density

Vitamin D plays a key role in helping people maintain optimal bone health, strength and density as it supports several essential processes involved in bone growth and maintenance.

For starters, vitamin D is essential for the absorption of calcium from the gut and digestive tract, with calcium being the main mineral in bones. Without enough vitamin D, the body can’t effectively absorb calcium, leading to weakened bones.

This is while it also supports the process of bone mineralization by balancing the calcium and phosphate levels in the blood and ensuring they are incorporated into the bone matrix, which helps to strengthen, form and maintain the bones.

Vitamin D also stimulates osteoblast activity, which are the cells responsible for the formation of new bone tissue, promoting bone growth and repair, and reduces the activity of osteoclasts, which are cells that break down bone. This makes it particularly important to get enough vitamin D both during your formative years and when you start getting older or going through menopause.

Speaking of which, as people age, they naturally lose bone mass, which can increase the risk of fractures and conditions like osteoporosis and osteomalacia, the adult equivalent of rickets, which are two conditions where bones become soft, fragile and prone to fractures. Supplementing with vitamin D greatly reduces the risk of this happening (4).

Keeps The Heart Healthy

Vitamin D plays a major role in maintaining cardiovascular health and functions and protecting against cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, strokes, vascular dysfunction, arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats), and arteriosclerosis thanks to a variety of different benefits that it offers.

As we already saw, it can reduce inflammation and regulate calcium absorption.

Chronic inflammation is a key contributor to the development of heart disease, so increasing the production of inflammatory cytokines and proteins associated with heart disease and atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries due to plaque buildup) prevents these issues as well as damage to blood vessels.

Meanwhile, optimal calcium metabolism ensures that calcium stays in the bones and teeth, where it is needed, rather than building up in the blood vessels and heart and causing issues like vascular calcification, which increases the risk of heart disease.

Perhaps the greatest benefit that vitamin D offers the heart is the ability to directly improve heart muscle function and strength and ensure that it can pump effectively and efficiently and stay in rhythm. This is because many vitamin D receptors are found in heart muscle cells.

It then also regulates blood pressure, keeping it at a healthy level by influencing the production of certain hormones, including renin, as well as boosting the health and function of endothelial cells, which line the inside of blood vessels and regulate blood flow and blood clotting.

Finally, vitamin D reduces blood sugar and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and increases HDL (good) cholesterol levels. This can help prevent plaque buildup in arteries, reducing the risk of atherosclerosis, heart disease, and other cardiovascular problems and complications (5).

Enhances Male Sexual Health

The final benefit of vitamin D that we will look at is its ability to enhance male sexual health and functions. It does this largely through a number of the mechanisms that we have already looked at, but it does also add some new ones.

Its ability to boost testosterone production and levels will help enhance a man’s libido, erectile function, and sexual performance. Similarly, better cardiovascular health promotes improved blood flow. As sexual function is highly dependent on good circulation, this will improve erectile function by promoting the dilation of blood vessels and ensuring proper blood flow to the penis.

The immune benefits that vitamin D offers will then help to keep the body generally healthy and fight off infections and illnesses that can impair sexual function.

Beyond these returning benefits, keeping your vitamin D levels up will help to prevent anxiety, stress and depression, all of which can negatively impact your libido and sexual desire, enhance a man’s mood, emotional balance, and sexual confidence, and even positively influence sperm quality, sperm motility (the ability of sperm to swim effectively), and fertility (6).

Read five (more) surprising benefits of vitamin D here