Hormone Replacement Therapy
The Benefits of Vitamin D in Menopause
As women go through menopause, it becomes essential for them to ensure they are providing their body the nutrients it needs to maintain optimum health and fight age-related diseases.
One such nutrient that more and more research is showing to play a vital role in post-menopause health is vitamin D.
In this article, we’ll explore what vitamin D is, the vital health benefits it provides to post-menopause women, and how you can ensure that you are getting enough of this all-important vitamin.
What is Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is somewhat unique compared to other vitamins in that it functions more like a hormone than a vitamin.
Another factor that sets vitamin D apart from other vitamins is that our bodies can produce it naturally.
When exposed to sunlight, the vitamin D receptor cells in our skin convert cholesterol into vitamin D3 through a chain of chemical reactions.
Unfortunately, most people living modern, indoor lives do not spend enough time in the sun to keep their vitamin D levels optimum. This makes it essential for anyone hoping to enjoy the health benefits of optimum vitamin D levels to add foods rich in vitamin D to their diet and take a quality vitamin D supplement.
The Health Benefits of Vitamin D in Postmenopausal Women
Vitamin D offers several substantial benefits to post-menopause women and women who are approaching or currently undergoing menopause. This includes benefits such as:
Preventing Osteoporosis
Since estrogen plays a vital role in promoting strong, healthy bones, post-menopausal women who no longer produce enough estrogen are at greater risk of developing osteoporosis.
Thankfully, vitamin D can go a long way toward promoting healthy bones and preventing osteoporosis.
Vitamin D is critical to your body’s ability to use calcium to build bones properly.
Making a combination of vitamin D and calcium is a great way to keep your bones strong and reduce your chances of developing osteoporosis.
Combating Cancer Cells
Over a thousand different studies have shown that vitamin D can help prevent thirty types of cancer and reduce the malignant growth of cancer cells already present.
Since a woman’s risk of developing cancer increases sharply post-menopause, these cancer-fighting benefits of vitamin D are well worth considering.
Mood Improvement
Vitamin D helps a person’s mood and cognitive performance.
Many studies show that vitamin D can help ease the symptoms of mental disorders such as depression.
Since menopause is associated with a range of mood symptoms — including an increased likelihood of developing depression — vitamin D is an essential nutrient for maintaining your mental health post-menopause.
Preventing Diabetes
Vitamin D has been shown to play an essential role in the body’s ability to utilize insulin.
Studies show that low vitamin D levels can decrease insulin production, higher insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes.
Since changes in hormone levels brought on by menopause can affect your blood sugar levels, giving your body the vitamin D it needs to produce and utilizing insulin is one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce your risk of developing diabetes post-menopause.
Where to Get Vitamin D
As we’ve already mentioned, the human body can produce vitamin D naturally provided it is exposed to enough sunlight.
However, getting enough regular sunlight to promote optimum vitamin D levels can often be a challenge.
The good news is that you can get vitamin D from many different foods and health supplements.
Foods such as milk, oily fish, egg yolks, and liver are all great sources of vitamin D.
Once again, however, it can be challenging to keep your vitamin D level optimum through diet alone. If you aren’t getting enough vitamin D from sunlight and your diet, purchasing a quality vitamin D supplement is a great option to consider.
From preventing cancer to balancing mood swings to promoting strong, healthy bones, vitamin D offers many important health benefits to post-menopausal women.
For post-menopausal women, in addition to those approaching or currently undergoing menopause, vitamin D is by far one of the most beneficial nutrients and a nutrient that you should prioritize in your diet and natural health regimen.
Sources
https://www.verywellhealth.com/vitamin-d-your-prevention-ally-2322660
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4764124/
https://www.npjournal.org/article/S1555-4155(14)00423-1/pdf
https://bmcnutr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40795-020-00341-y
As women go through menopause, it becomes essential for them to ensure they are providing their body the nutrients it needs to maintain optimum health and fight age-related diseases.
One such nutrient that more and more research is showing to play a vital role in post-menopause health is vitamin D.
In this article, we’ll explore what vitamin D is, the vital health benefits it provides to post-menopause women, and how you can ensure that you are getting enough of this all-important vitamin.
What is Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is somewhat unique compared to other vitamins in that it functions more like a hormone than a vitamin.
Another factor that sets vitamin D apart from other vitamins is that our bodies can produce it naturally.
When exposed to sunlight, the vitamin D receptor cells in our skin convert cholesterol into vitamin D3 through a chain of chemical reactions.
Unfortunately, most people living modern, indoor lives do not spend enough time in the sun to keep their vitamin D levels optimum. This makes it essential for anyone hoping to enjoy the health benefits of optimum vitamin D levels to add foods rich in vitamin D to their diet and take a quality vitamin D supplement.
The Health Benefits of Vitamin D in Postmenopausal Women
Vitamin D offers several substantial benefits to post-menopause women and women who are approaching or currently undergoing menopause. This includes benefits such as:
Preventing Osteoporosis
Since estrogen plays a vital role in promoting strong, healthy bones, post-menopausal women who no longer produce enough estrogen are at greater risk of developing osteoporosis.
Thankfully, vitamin D can go a long way toward promoting healthy bones and preventing osteoporosis.
Vitamin D is critical to your body’s ability to use calcium to build bones properly.
Making a combination of vitamin D and calcium is a great way to keep your bones strong and reduce your chances of developing osteoporosis.
Combating Cancer Cells
Over a thousand different studies have shown that vitamin D can help prevent thirty types of cancer and reduce the malignant growth of cancer cells already present.
Since a woman’s risk of developing cancer increases sharply post-menopause, these cancer-fighting benefits of vitamin D are well worth considering.
Mood Improvement
Vitamin D helps a person’s mood and cognitive performance.
Many studies show that vitamin D can help ease the symptoms of mental disorders such as depression.
Since menopause is associated with a range of mood symptoms — including an increased likelihood of developing depression — vitamin D is an essential nutrient for maintaining your mental health post-menopause.
Preventing Diabetes
Vitamin D has been shown to play an essential role in the body’s ability to utilize insulin.
Studies show that low vitamin D levels can decrease insulin production, higher insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes.
Since changes in hormone levels brought on by menopause can affect your blood sugar levels, giving your body the vitamin D it needs to produce and utilizing insulin is one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce your risk of developing diabetes post-menopause.
Where to Get Vitamin D
As we’ve already mentioned, the human body can produce vitamin D naturally provided it is exposed to enough sunlight.
However, getting enough regular sunlight to promote optimum vitamin D levels can often be a challenge.
The good news is that you can get vitamin D from many different foods and health supplements.
Foods such as milk, oily fish, egg yolks, and liver are all great sources of vitamin D.
Once again, however, it can be challenging to keep your vitamin D level optimum through diet alone. If you aren’t getting enough vitamin D from sunlight and your diet, purchasing a quality vitamin D supplement is a great option to consider.
From preventing cancer to balancing mood swings to promoting strong, healthy bones, vitamin D offers many important health benefits to post-menopausal women.
For post-menopausal women, in addition to those approaching or currently undergoing menopause, vitamin D is by far one of the most beneficial nutrients and a nutrient that you should prioritize in your diet and natural health regimen.
Sources
https://www.verywellhealth.com/vitamin-d-your-prevention-ally-2322660
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4764124/
https://www.npjournal.org/article/S1555-4155(14)00423-1/pdf
https://bmcnutr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40795-020-00341-y
