Vitamin D: The Sunshine “Vitamin”
Did you know that you’re a lot more like a plant than you realize? Not because you grow roots, and not because you have leaves or flowers, but because you actually have the ability to make one extremely vital nutrient out of sunlight, everyday. How’s that for cool?
The nutrient I’m talking about is called a “vitamin,” but it’s actually closer in structure and function to a hormone—it’s main jobs are to help you absorb calcium for strong bones and to boost your immune system to fight off illness.
The vital nutrient our body magically makes out of sunlight everyday is, of course, vitamin D.
It’s nicknamed the “sunshine vitamin” because our skin produces it when we’re exposed to UVB rays. When sunlight hits your skin, the UVB rays turn a type of cholesterol into vitamin D (just another reason we should get comfortable with the idea that we need cholesterol in our lives and in our bodies).