Practical Facts and Tables of Vitamin D (Kalcyferol)

Stick model of the cholecalciferol molecule (vitamin D3), C 27 H 44 O, as found in the crystal structure. X-ray crystallographic data from J. Org. Chem. (1976) 41, 3476–3478. Model constructed in CrystalMaker 8.1. Image generated in Accelrys DS Visualizer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Features and functions: discovery of vitamin D is closely related to a condition called rickets. In 1645 Whistler described rickets, and five years later, Glisson gave her the exact clinical picture. In the eighteenth century, fish oil has been fairly widely recognized as a cure for rickets. The first fishermen used it and the peasants living in the coastal area. In 1890, Palm on the basis of the frequency of occurrence of rickets in different countries has shown that there is a high correlation between the incidence of the disease and the intensity of sunlight. Linking the role of light and nutrition in the etiology of rickets occurred only in 1924, when Hess and Weinstock and Steenbock demonstrated that exposure to ultraviolet light of certain products makes them przeciwkrzywicze properties. In 1927 Windausa and Hess demonstrated that ergosterol is converted into vitamin D. In 1931, a year later, Angew Windausa have identified as a result of irradiation of ergosterol pure crystalline vitamin D2. Six years later received vitamin D3 through exposure to 7-dehydrosterolu. Then explained that the natural vitamin produced in the skin under the influence of solar radiation. Vitamin D include vitamin D1 (kalcyferol), D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol). Wtamina D1 is in fish oil, D2 is produced in plants exposed to ultraviolet rays, while vitamin D3 produced in the skin of humans and animals, and as one of the few vitamins the body can produce itself when exposed to sunlight, which transform human skin contained in the 7 - dehydrocholesterol (the so-called pro-vitamin D3) is transformed into cholecalciferol. Vitamin D plays an important role in the regulation of calcium and phosphorus metabolism and bone formation.This vitamin increases calcium and phosphate absorption from the gut, and also reduces the amount of calcium excreted from the body. It is also necessary for optimal skeletal formation, indirectly has a beneficial effect on the nervous system and muscle contractions in the heart. Opowiednia calcium enables efficient conduction of nerve impulses. Vitamin D prevents and reduces inflammation of the skin and regulates the secretion of insulin, and thus affect the appropriate level of sugar in the body. A positive effect on your hearing, as determined by the good condition of the inner ear ankles. Effect on bone marrow cells that produce defense cells (monocytes). 

Used name: Kalcyferol, ergocalciferol, cholecalciferol, vitamin przeciwkrzywiczna 

Chemical formula: 
Ergocalciferol (D2) 

Cholecalciferol (D3) 





Requirement: 
Vitamin D is expressed in food in micrograms [mg] or International Units [IU]

1 Unit International [IU] = 0.025 [mg]

Dietary Reference Intakes for vitamin D for various population groups in the light of inadequate sunlight exposure *

Of the population	Vitamin D
	Dietary Reference Intakes [mg / day]	Maximum safe dose that causes no risk of side effects [mg / day]
Children 1-3 years	15	63
Children 4-8 years	15	75
Boys 9-13 years	15	100
Youth 14-18 years	15	100
Male 19-30 years	15	100
Male 31-50 years	15	100
Male 50-70 years	15	100
Men over 70 years	20	100
Girls 9-13 years	15	100
Females 14-18 years	15	100
Women 19-30 years	15	100
Women 31-50 years	15	100
Women 50-70 years	15	100
Women over 70 years	20	100
Pregnant women up to 18 years	15	100
Pregnant women 19-30 years	15	100
Pregnant women 31-50 years	15	100
Breastfeeding women up to 18 years	15	100
Women who are 19-30 years	15	100
Women who are 31-50 years	15	100

* (By Dietary Reference Intakes established by the National Academy of Sciences, Food and Nutrition Board, USA) 



Sources in food: 

The content of 100 [g] or [ml] of the product	[Mg]
Tran (2 tsp)	242
Herring	25
Mackerel	24
Salmon	12
Sardines in Oil	9
Tuna	6
Milk (1 cup)	3
Wholewheat flour	3
Egg (1 egg yolk)	1
Liver	1

Vitamin A deficiency: 
- Infants - children rickets (rachitis infantilis) 
- In older children and adolescents - late rickets (rachitis tarda) 
- In the elderly: Abnormal bone structure - osteomalacia and osteoporosis, 
- Myopia, 
- States of irritability, neurotic disorders, insomnia, pessimism, depression 



Excess vitamin: 
- Nausea, 
- Diarrhea, 
- Weight loss, 
- Tiredness, 
- Excessive sweating, 
- Loss of appetite, loss of appetite, 
- Drowsiness, 
- Delays in the development of the child, 
- Abnormal heart rhythm, 
- Increased urination; 
- Eye pain, 
- Jaw pain, joint and muscle pain, 
- Headaches, 
- Itching, 
- Increase the risk of atherosclerosis, 
- Increase the risk of kidney stones 



Which improves the absorption of: vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, calcium, phosphorus, essential fatty acids, sunlight 



What affects the deterioration of absorption: alcohol, laxatives, corticosteroids 

Interesting facts about vitamin: 

- Vitamin D produced in the skin by the action of solar ultraviolet light. With nourishment mainly its initial form (pro-vitamin), which in the next stage is converted in the liver, kidneys and skin to correct vitamin D,
- Elderly people are particularly vulnerable to vitamin D deficiency created in association with the age because the skin's ability to produce this vitamin when exposed to sunlight. Guilty ago is also a lot less physical activity of older people, 
- Vitamin D is fat soluble, it facilitates its storage in the body, and therefore very high doses may cause hypervitaminosis. Hypervitaminosis D is very sporadic phenomenon, 
- Likely to be deficient in vitamin D deficiency is the most common of all the vitamins and minerals 
- Believed to have solar bath ten minutes every day during the summer months (June - early September) provides the correct dose of the vitamin. However, one should take into account individual needs, for example, that children need more vitamins than adults, and also - with age decreases the body's ability to produce this vitamin in the UV light. Also, people in polluted environments are less likely to be the right amount of vitamin D in the body. 

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