Vitamin D supports immune system, bones, teeth and muscles

D-Pearls are small, soft gelatin capsules with 125 μg (5000 International Units) of pure vitamin D3 in each capsule. The vitamin D is dissolved in high quality cold-pressed olive oil to improve absorption in the digestive system as vitamin-D is a fat-soluble vitamin. The capsule size makes them easy to swallow, but they can also be chewed. Research has shown that D-Pearls have a high absorption in the body. ⁽²⁾

Safety and quality

At Pharma Nord's factory in Vojens, Denmark, both medicines and dietary supplements are produced, which makes it possible to carry out the same control with dietary supplements as is already done with medicines. Both dietary supplements and medicines are examined on the basis of a carefully determined plan - which ensures that the products contain what the specification says. This gives consumers an assurance that each D-Pearl contains the amount of vitamin D listed.

D-Pearls has been on the European market since 2007.

A Norwegian research group (Grung et al) has shown that D-Pearls have good absorption. Here, two groups of teenagers received a daily supplement of 38 µg (1520 IU) for three months or placebo, respectively.
In the placebo group, the level of vitamin D in the blood stood largely still, while it increased in the group that received D-Pearls.

The illustration shows how the level of vitamin D developed during the three months, when the two groups of teenagers received 38 µg of vitamin D in supplements a day or matching placebo capsules, respectively.
 

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In a study conducted by American and Norwegian researchers - the participants received D-Pearls 40 µg (1600 IU) a day for four and a half months over the winter period or matching placebo capsules. At both the start and the end of the study, the participants had their level of vitamin D in the blood measured.
 
To begin with, the participants had an average level of vitamin D in the blood of 63 nmol/L - with no major differences between the placebo group and the active group. After the winter months, when the study was performed, the placebo group's content of vitamin D in the blood dropped to 47 nmol/L. A completely natural decrease in the vitamin level over the winter, when you do not get sun on the body. Meanwhile, the group receiving D-Pearls experienced an increase of vitamin D in the blood to an average level of 76 nmol/L.

The illustration shows the changes in vitamin D in the blood over 4.5 months in the group that received 40 µg of vitamin D from D-Pearls daily as well as the declining content of vitamin D in the blood in the group that received matching placebo capsules.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin. This implies that the vitamin need some fat in order to be absorbed in the intestine. Like other vitamins, vitamin D is essential. In the Nordic countries, where you can only form vitamin D from the Sun during the summer, vitamin D is one of the most popular vitamins to take as a supplement.

There are several kinds of vitamin-D, but the two most important forms are D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol).

Vitamin D2 Is only available from the diet. It is produced by certain fungi and plants when they are exposed to ultraviolet light.

Science used to believe that both forms of vitamin D were equally effective in the body. However, depending on the measuring method used, vitamin D3 is 56-87 per cent more effective than vitamin D2 when it comes to raising blood levels of vitamin D. Moreover, D3 is stored in fat tissue more than three times as effectively as D2. *

* Heaney RP, et al. Vitamin D3 Is More Potent Than Vitamin D2 in Humans. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2010.

Children and nursing home residents need more vitamin D than adults.

Vitamin D has an array of important functions in the body. For instance, vitamin D is:

•     Important for normal cell division
•     Helping to maintain normal bones and teeth
•     Contributing to a normal absorption and utilization of calcium and phosphorus
•     Playing a role in the body's immune system and muscle function
   

Sources of Vitamin D

There are two primary sources of vitamin D: Sunlight and Diet.

Vitamin D from the Sun

We form a precursor to vitamin D3 in the skin based on cholesterol when we get enough sunlight or equivalent UV radiation. This precursor must subsequently be converted (hydroxylated) in the liver and kidneys, respectively, to become active vitamin D.

Vitamin D from sunlight is an effective vitamin D source but is only produced when the sun is high in the sky. Melanin, which causes skin pigmentation, lowers the skin's ability to make vitamin D in response to sunlight exposure. Studies show that older adults with darker skin complexions are at a higher risk of vitamin D deficiency. Deficiencies are more likely during winter months with limited sun exposure.

Rule of thumb

To form vitamin D from sunlight, the UV index must be at least 3 or higher. The UV index is used as a measure of the intensity of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. If you are in doubt about whether you can form vitamin D from the Sun, look at your shadow. If the length of your shadow has the same or shorter length than your height, then you can form vitamin D. If, on the other hand, the shade is longer than the height, vitamin D is not formed.

Vitamin D food

Vitamin D is found only in larger amounts in oily fish, such as salmon, herring and mackerel. Additionally occurring vitamin D are found in limited quantities in meat, dairy products and eggs. In the plant kingdom vitamin D is available only in small amounts in certain fungi. In our diet some of the best sources of vitamin D are:

There is some loss of vitamin D from the diet when heated.

Research has shown that in terms of the amount of vitamin D in the blood, a daily supplement of vitamin D is more effective than larger weekly or monthly supplementations.

In order to prevent low vitamin D supplements are generally recommended for:

• Children aged 0 – 2 years (vitamin D as drops)
• Pregnant women
• Children and adults with dark skin
• Children and adults who wear fully covering clothes in the summer time
• People who do not spend time outdoors in the daytime or generally avoid sunlight
• Nursing home residents as old people have reduced skin synthesis, and also gut absorption of vitamin D
• People older than 70 years
• Anyone who, regardless of their age, are at increased risk for osteoporosis

Vegans and vegetarians are advised to adhere to the official guidelines for sun exposure and possibly take a supplement of vitamin D during the winter period.
Blood levels of vitamin D can be determined by a blood test that measures the unit 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-(OH)D) and is expressed in nmol/L or ng/ml. We are talking about vitamin D deficiencies at different levels in the blood below 50 nmol/L or 20 ng/ml.

Vitamin D status is graduated in the following way:

> = greater than
< = less than

Vitamin D Conversion
 

• 1 nmol/L = 0,4 ng/ml ~ 0,4 µg/L

Measurement of vitamin D

The safest way to know one's vitamin D status is by means of a blood test. However, for normal, healthy individuals there is no immediate need to measure blood levels of vitamin D. For certain groups, however, it is advisable to gauge their vitamin D status.

For instance, people with a lifestyle that gives reason to believe that they could benefit from checking their status. Besides the obvious factors that limit vitamin D such as lack of sunlight and poor diet, there are more subtle causes such as the fact that some types of medicine may affect the body’s vitamin D absorption, thereby increasing the need for this particular nutrient.

Although the aging process affects us differently depending on our genome and lifestyle, everyone will find that, over time, the body becomes worn out and functions less efficiently. This phenomenon is part of the normal aging process and can also have an effect on the amount of vitamin D we need.

Most of the body's cells are equipped with vitamin D receptors, which are small structures on the cells’ surface that are activated by active vitamin D3. These receptors on the different cells is also the explanation for the many different effects of vitamin D in the body.

• The immune system

It became clear that vitamin D contributes to the normal functioning of the immune system when it was discovered that various white blood cells such as macrophages and dendritic cells as well as T and B lymphocytes are equipped with vitamin D receptors. Vitamin D is necessary for these immune cells to perform their functions. For example, it has been shown that active vitamin D activates genes in the cell nucleus; these genes encode peptides that inhibit viruses, bacteria and fungi.

Our immune system reaches peak efficiency in the teenage years. Even in healthy elderly people, the immune system has become more vulnerable to new infections that it has not encountered before. The elderly, for example, have fewer white blood cells in the blood, and the degree of inflammation in the body is higher than in younger people. Older people should pay special attention to getting enough vitamin D.

• Bone tissue

Our bone mass peaks at the age of 20 - 30 years. After this, the bone tissue slowly becomes lighter and more porous. Vitamin D is necessary for normal bones and teeth because vitamin D helps us to maintain a normal content of calcium in the blood, and vitamin D is necessary for bones and teeth to absorb calcium.

From the age of 40, there is a gradual loss of bone mass on the order of 0.5% annually for men and about twice as much for women.

• Muscle function

Our muscles also need vitamin D to function normally. The ability of muscles to contract is dependent on calcium ions. As previously mentioned, vitamin D regulates the blood's content of calcium and in this way also regulates muscle function.

As we get older, the number of vitamin D receptors in muscle tissue decreases. This results in a gradual loss of muscle mass and muscle strength. The heart muscle, on the other hand, is not significantly affected by this.

• Skin and mucous membranes

It is known that the body produces a precursor to vitamin D in the skin when exposed to sunlight of a certain intensity, i.e. a wavelength between 290 - 315 nm. Factors that prevent or reduce the production of vitamin D from sunlight are severe air pollution, clothing, dark skin, use of sunscreen, obesity, the sun’s being too low in the sky, and old age.

With increasing age, the amount of collagen and elastin decreases, making the skin flabbier and more wrinkled. The skin becomes less efficient at producing vitamin D from sunlight, and the digestive tract becomes less efficient at absorbing vitamin D.

Vitamin D from Pharma Nord has been chosen by scientists for several clinical trials, because of its proven stability and high degree of absorption.

Most recently, a major study on immune defence in the UK has chosen the product, precisely because of its long-established use in the other clinical trials, and a number of previously published studies, which show Pharma Nord's Vitamin D3's effectiveness and its ability to raise vitamin D levels in the blood. ⁽²⁾