7 Surprising Health Benefits of Taking Vitamin D Supplements

Vitamin D is essential for your overall health. But over 80 percent of Americans have a vitamin D deficiency. This can increase your risk of health problems like poor calcium absorption and a weak immune system. For this reason, it is important to maintain healthy levels of vitamin D in your body and take vitamin D food supplements.

Below are 7 health benefits of taking vitamin D supplements. 

1. Improve dental health

Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium that is crucial for your dental health. It strengthens your teeth and enamel, reducing the risk of tooth decay and enamel erosion. Due to its anti-inflammatory properties, vitamin D helps fight gum inflammation and lower your risk of periodontal disease. 

What’s more, vitamin D stimulates the production of antimicrobial peptides that help treat gum infections. Ask the dentist in your dental clinic whether vitamin D supplements can help improve your dental health. 

2. Support the immune system and relieve inflammation

Maintaining healthy levels of vitamin D in your body can also help build the immune system. It supports your immune system by fighting off bacteria and viruses that can cause cold. It’s for this reason, vitamin D supplements have become so popular during the COVID-19 pandemic. It can potentially reduce the severity of symptoms and reduce the risk of complications. 

Besides, vitamin D reduces overall body inflammation. This is crucial in the treatment of many inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and others. 

3. Strengthen bones

Vitamin D is known for its ability to strengthen the bones and promote their health. While vitamin D itself isn’t involved in the bone-building process, it promotes the absorption of another crucial element for your bones called calcium. Calcium helps build healthy bones and allows for their normal mineralization. For this reason, if you have brittle bones, you need to consume both calcium and vitamin D. Without vitamin D calcium simply wouldn't be able to do its job. 

4. Help battle depression 

Just like the sun, vitamin D can help brighten your mood and improve your mental well being. While the low levels of vitamin D can cause depression, depression itself may also lower the levels of vitamin D in your body, creating a circle. If you have depression, ask your doctor about vitamin D supplements to improve your mental health. 

5. Help strengthen muscles 

Vitamin D is also important for building healthy and strong muscles. The deficiency of vitamin D increases your risk of having weak muscles. This can increase your risk of falls and bone degenerative conditions. For this reason, vitamin D is crucial for elderly people who are prone to bone degenerative conditions and falls. 

6. Can help treat hypertension

Vitamin D supplements may play a role in the treatment of high blood pressure. Low levels of vitamin D are one of the markers of cardiovascular disease. Even short-term deficiency of vitamin D can make you prone to cardiovascular problems. For this reason, supplementing with this vitamin may become a new insight into the treatment of hypertension.

7. Boosts weight loss

If you are trying to lose weight, consider adding vitamin D to your diet. Taking a healthy dose of vitamin D daily can help build lean muscle and improve performance during a workout. Besides, the deficiency of vitamin D is associated with low energy levels. Supplementing with vitamin D can give you more energy and help regain more energy to achieve your weight loss goals. 

How to get more vitamin D

While sunlight and supplements are the best sources of vitamin D, there are other ways to increase your intake of this crucial vitamin. If you find out your levels of vitamin D are low, try to include in your diet more foods like salmon, sardines, herring, red meat, liver, egg yolks, and fortified foods.