Women’s friendly vitamin D

More beautiful, in line and with an enviable skin? And, why not, sociable and affable even in “those days”? It might be easier than you think: let’s start by keeping our vitamin D levels under control.

For those who go on a diet

Do you struggle to lose weight despite dieting? Maybe it’s just a matter of vitamin deficiency.

Specifically, we talk about vitamin D, on whose possible role in the mechanisms responsible for weight control and weight loss have been pronounced by some experts from the University of Minnesota.

To test the hypothesis, the researchers observed 38 overweight subjects by measuring both their fat distribution and circulating levels of vitamin D before and after adopting an 11-week low-calorie diet.

The results? Higher levels of vitamin D corresponded to a greater probability of diet success, in a completely proportional way.

There is therefore the possibility that vitamin D supplements during low-calorie diets can lead to more substantial weight loss. A theory that has yet to be confirmed by controlled clinical trials.

If the teenager is chubby

There is no doubt, however, that there is a link between vitamin D and body weight. In fact, some studies have shown that insufficient amounts of this nutrient during puberty are associated with overweight in adolescents. As well as short stature.

But what struck the researchers most was the percentage of vitamin deficiency among young people. Vitamin D levels should therefore be monitored more, particularly among apparently healthy adolescents.

Glowing skin

A lean and fit physique (and with a good bone structure) is already an achievement for women’s well-being and beauty. But the benefits of vitamin D can go further.

By regulating both the proliferation of cells that make up the most superficial layer of the epidermis and the quality of the hydrolipidic film, this precious nutrient is able to give the skin a luminous and healthy appearance.

Precisely for this reason, cosmetics are now offering products that contain a precursor of vitamin D (ergocalciferol, or vitamin D2).

In addition to moisturizing, they brighten the complexion, restore vitality to the skin and make the hydrolipidic film more compact and more resistant to external aggressions.

Protected even under the sun

The sun, as we know, damages the epidermis. But it is also a determining factor for the production of vitamin D: taken in the right dose, say researchers at Stanford University, it could help repair damage to the epidermis caused by too prolonged exposure to UV rays.

Their studies suggest that there is, at the level of the epidermis, a mechanism similar to that which occurs in the kidneys and liver when the precursor of vitamin D (inactive) is transformed into its active form.

The vitamin D thus produced locally as a result of sun exposure would stimulate T cells to migrate to the upper layers of the skin to destroy cells damaged by sunlight.

Goodbye premenstrual syndrome

Lower abdominal pain, anxiety and depression, mood swings, fatigue, nervousness and irritability. A considerable number of women suffer from it, especially in the days immediately preceding menstruation.

A malaise that, sometimes, can also interfere with normal daily and work activities.

A study by Massachusetts University, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, has shown, however, that nutritional deficiencies, in particular of calcium and vitamin D, can be a determining factor in the onset of premenstrual syndrome.

This is not surprising, given that other research has already called into question deficiencies of vitamin B1, magnesium and calcium in the genesis of the sequence of symptoms that characterize the syndrome.

The following table shows the foods with the highest vitamin D content: