Should We Take Vitamin D When Winter Clouds Roll In?
So long summer sun and so long sunny autumn days. Winter is coming-- which means less sun exposure. And as Men's Journal reports Less sun exposure could mean your body is getting less Vitamin D. So here's the question, should we take a supplement?
Science says "it's complicated."
Scientific literature doesn't make it clear if taking supplements offers a health benefit but Vitamin D is an important nutrient for bone health, and there's some research that suggests taking it as a supplement could reduce prostate, colon, and skin cancer risk. too.
But, here's the rub. You can have too much of a good thing-- excess Vitamin D becomes a risk factor for some diseases it should protect against! Complicated.
The National Academy of Medicine recommends an upper limit of 4,000 international units per day of Vitamin D to be safe.