The Importance of the "Sunshine Vitamin" During the Dark Winter Months

The connection between sunlight and bone health was made over 200 years ago when a Polish doctor treated inner city children with rickets (or soft bones) by taking them to the countryside for the summer months. Leading wellness and sustainability brand Shaklee is here to explain why vitamin D is more than just for your bones. In fact, vitamin D promotes heart, metabolic, and immune system health in addition to supporting bone health. And in the winter, when our sunshine exposure is shortened, it's important to supplement vitamin D to support our overall health and well-being.

"Vitamin D is produced when sunlight touches our skin, and very few foods in nature contain vitamin D, with fortified foods – primarily cow's milk – being responsible for most of the vitamin D in the American diet,"2 said Jamie McManus, MD, FAAFP, and Shaklee's Chair of Medical Affairs. "As daylight savings time ends, we have less opportunity to absorb vitamin D through sunlight. Therefore, Americans should supplement their vitamin D intake, especially during winter." Other risk factors for low vitamin D status include darker-pigmented skin color and obesity.

Backed by two Shaklee clinical studies and packed full of the "sunshine vitamin" in its most potent form, Shaklee's Vita-D3® raises the levels of vitamin D in your blood to support overall health, bone health, heart health, and immunity.*3,4 Vita-D3 provides 2,000 IU of high-potency vitamin D3.

https://us.shaklee.com/Nutrition/Vitamin-%26-Mineral-Boosts/Vita-D3%C2%AE/p/21364

Vitamin D is absorbed into our bloodstream and converted to the active form (a secosteroidal hormone) and a storage form (25-hydroxyvitamin D) – it functions more like a hormone than a vitamin. So, it is no surprise that having sufficient levels of vitamin D is so important for a broad array of health effects.

Potential benefits associated with vitamin D include:

• Aids in calcium absorption for maintaining strong bones and teeth*
• Helps support healthy heart and immune function*
• Facilitates healthy cell development*

"At Shaklee, we can't stress enough the importance of having healthy levels of vitamin D, especially as our hours of sunlight lessen in the winter months and it's nearly impossible to get this vitamin naturally," said Roger Barnett, Chairman and CEO, Shaklee Corporation. "We're proud to offer a safe and proven vitamin D supplement in its most potent form to support bone, heart, metabolic, and immune system health."

Shaklee's mission is to bring true wellness to the world. And true wellness means physical health through great products, financial opportunity, emotional health through the love and support of the amazing Shaklee community, and the health of the planet as a whole. Every human being needs all four of these elements to live a great life. People all over the world are starting to recognize how important true wellness is.To learn more about Shaklee and to join its ambassador network, visit: www.shaklee.com. To learn more about Shaklee's Vita-D3, visit: https://us.shaklee.com/Nutrition/Vitamin-%26-Mineral-Boosts/Vita-D3%C2%AE/p/21364.