Vitamin D

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Revision as of 22:11, 16 April 2013 by Guaka (talk | contribs)

The best source of vitamin D is sunshine. Living things (even mushrooms) can make vitamin D on contact with sunshine. Vitamin D is important for many different functions in the body, especially bone health and the immune system.

Nutritionally, there are two main types of Vitamin D - Vitamin D3 and Vitamin D2. It is generally thought the Vitamin D3 is superior to vitamin D2 but recent studies shown that higher doses of vitamin D2 for a slightly longer period can achieve the same results as D3 (citation needed)

Vitamin D3 is usually not vegan as it is made from sheep's wool although a major manufacturer (Roche) achieved UK vegetarian society approval by offering reassurances that the donor sheep would reared solely for wool and not meat.

Vegan Vitamin D3 is however now being made from lichen and algae under the tradename vitashine. It is being offered as a spray and also as part of a vegan omega 3 essential long chain fatty acid supplement with DHA and EPA.