The Many Facets of Vitamin D
Vitamin D is one of the more popular vitamin supplements on the nutritional store shelves and the reason for this is two fold. First, the vitamin provides a number of valuable and critical health benefits that people consider very important. Secondly, people prefer the supplement form bought in stores as opposed to the natural form of the vitamin simply because the food sources which contain the vitamin can be somewhat difficult to prepare or cook.
The Purpose
The main purpose of Vitamin D is to promote calcium in the body and this leads to bone strengthening. As people age, the need for stronger bones becomes critical and because of this Vitamin D intake remains a critical supplement to those who are aging. Now, this is not to infer in any way, shape or form that this is an age specific vitamin. On the contrary, this is a vitamin that provides a host of benefits to all who take it regardless of the age of the person.
Food Sources
When it comes to the many food sources for Vitamin D, most of the foods that contain the vitamin are found in fish such as Chinook salmon, catfish, sturgeon, etc. Now, these are all great foods to eat, but they are certainly not always easy to cook. Catfish might be easy to prepare, but smoked Chinook salmon is hardly what anyone would consider a food item that can be "whipped up" in a few minutes. Plus, any restaurant that offers Chinook salmon or sturgeon is not exactly going to offer them with French fries for $5.99! As such, more people reach for tablet supplements although there is a much easier natural form that has gained quite a bit of popularity among certain individuals.
Cod Liver Oil
Cod liver oil has been sold on store shelves for many years and has been shockingly popular despite the fact that a teaspoon of cod liver oil is pretty gross tasting! (A spoonful of sugar will not help this particular medicine go down!) However, this is a great source of Vitamin D for those people who are looking for an alternative to traditional supplements or prepared food. Luckily, there is a gel pill form of cod liver oil that is much easier to ingest (no taste) and this had led to a renewed surge in popularity for cod liver oil and all the great health benefits that go with it.
