People basically go vegetarian to be healthy. And so it is quite imperative that you eat a balanced diet. This means you that you don’t only have to consume all types of vitamins and minerals that you body needs. But you should also consume the correct amounts of each.
Vitamin D, Your Bones and Cancer
One of the most important vitamins your body needs, for instance, is Vitamin D. Together with calcium you need it in order to maintain healthy bones. Because of this it is considered to be one of the essential elements in maintaining a healthy body as well. Any deficiency can either lead to rickets in children or osteoporosis in adults.
On the other hand, a sufficient dose of vitamin D would help you reduce the risk of certain cancers. It will also help you prevent bone diseases and even autism as well. That is why medical groups recommend a minimum of 200IU of vitamin D daily. You should even take higher dosages of vitamin during fall and winter. Instead of 200IU, you would need 1000IU during these seasons.
Study shows that women who take in sufficient amounts of vitamin D and calcium reduce the risk of breast cancer before they reach the menopausal stage. That is because it has been found that there is a correlation between the levels if vitamin D in the blood and the risk of cancer.
Why Is This a Problem with Vegetarians?
The truth of the matter is everyone is a candidate for vitamin D deficiency. While omnivorous people have more tendencies to be deficient, even vegetarians can be so. That is why even each vegetarian should take conscious efforts to include it in your diet. Most of the food that is in most vegans’ diet is fortified foods though. You have milk fortified with vitamin D. Margarine and orange juice is also fortified with vitamin D to complete your diet.
But then again taking vitamin D is different from taking enough of vitamin D. If you are not taking in enough naturally, you would have to take vitamin D supplements to ensure healthy bones and healthy body.
How You Can Take Vitamin D Supplements
Vegetarians who need vitamin D supplements basically take it the easy way. These vitamin D supplements are in vegetable bases capsules for an easy one, two and three means of getting healthy. Of course, multivitamins in tablet and capsule forms may also contain great amounts of vitamin D.
There are certain classifications of vitamin D though. And many vegans shy away from vitamin D3 for the reason that it is derived from sheep’s wool. Therefore it is not entirely vegan. They would instead prefer taking vitamin D2 since it sourced from vegetarian foods like yeast and mushroom. The two are considered equivalent though. So, there’s no study that says one is more important than the other as of yet.
So again taking vitamin D naturally through your diet is essential. But if you are deficient of vitamin D, you would be better off with vitamin D capsule supplements.