Vitamin D
Vitamin D3 naturally occurs almost exclusively in animal sources, particularly in fish, dairy products, eggs and meat. Plants, such as lichens and various fungi, contain only very small amounts of the much less effective form of vitamin D2.
Vitamin D plays a very important role in the body. It is one of the few vitamins that is not absorbed directly from food, but rather produced by skin cells from sunlight. It is not a vitamin in the traditional sense of the word, but rather a pro-hormone. Almost all body cells have special receptors for the vitamin D hormone and are dependent on an adequate supply of it.
Vitamin D is still being intensively researched. New mechanisms of action of this fascinating vitamin are discovered almost every year. So far, the following statements on vitamin D have been released by the EU (EFSA):
Vitamin D contributes to:
Vitamin D contributes to
- normal absorption and utilisation of calcium and phosphorus
- normal calcium levels in the blood
- the maintenance of bones
- the maintenance of normal muscle function
- the maintenance of healthy teeth
- normal function of the immune system
- cell division
