nikaLIVE: Vitamin D as an anti-aging ingredient.

Vitamin D, which is often mentioned in the context of immunity, the health of our bones and the prevention of diseases such as cancer, is rarely mentioned in the context of anti-aging. Does vitamin D also have any effect on the aging of the body?

Dr. Agnes Frankel: First of all, it is worth noting that vitamin D is actually a hormone. This is a very important molecule in the context of maintaining full health . I myself notice among my patients that vitamin D supplementation is beginning to appear, but patients are not yet fully aware of what sources to get it from, in what amounts and how to do it correctly. We supplement it and recommend it to our families because we know that its presence is important. But in fact, we must first become aware of the concepts of deficiency and excess of a given substance. The most important issue is optimal. Very often we start supplementation without measuring the level of vitamin D in our body. More and more often I come across the term taking a "horse dose" of vitamin D , but during consultations during which morphological tests are performed, it turns out that some of my patients have toxic levels of this hormone in their blood. That's why we should always start with research. Vitamin D is like a network of communicating vessels, it affects many biochemical reactions , but we must look at it through the prism of an individual approach to each patient. Not only the dose is crucial when starting to take supplementation, but also our diet, lifestyle, amount of sleep per day and even place of residence.

How to achieve this dream "optimum"? First of all, let's not forget about walking . Going for a 15-20 minute walk without applying filters, three times a week, can help provide us with the optimal dose of vitamin D. Remember that our skin has a mechanism for creating vitamin D , but when protective filters are applied to it, the level of its production decreases. UVB rays, from which we protect ourselves with sunscreen, also drive the production of vitamin D in our body - this is where the paradox begins. That is why controlled supplementation is so important. The Pediatric, Internal Medicine and Dermatological Societies recommend year-round supplementation - although its amounts may vary depending on our age and season.

But what is the relationship between anti-aging and vitamin D?

It is worth mentioning that the whole concept of anti-aging is, above all, taking care of a healthy and nice life. The point is that at the age of 60-70 we will still have an enlightened mind, look good, but still remember that good appearance is also health! It's impossible to look good when we smoke, our list of diseases is long, and to make matters worse, we don't get enough sleep and don't take care of ourselves. This famous anti-aging is simply about being your "best self". And for this we need optimal levels of ingredients in the body.

Vitamin D is a kind of "connector" that connects many processes and correlates with many other substances in our body. What should be said about vitamin D and anti-aging is that the presence of this ingredient calms down the body's inflammation . This is what anti-aging action is. Thanks to the presence of vitamin D, age-related inflammation calms down and is significantly alleviated.

Does this also affect the inflammation we have on our skin?

Yes, absolutely. That's why self-control is important. For example: one of the causes of acne may be vitamin D deficiency. We must be aware and sometimes ask the doctor to order tests of its level in our body. The second important issue is maintaining the epidermal barrier . Thanks to this, our skin does not dry out. This is an important element when struggling with atopic dermatitis . Vitamin D deficiency may not only lead to dryness and redness, but may also cause itching. It is worth mentioning that many psychiatrists believe that insufficient amounts of hormone D may lead to depressive episodes .

Vitamin D is produced in smaller and smaller amounts with age , so after the age of 45 we must consider how to provide adequate amounts of this substance. Without giving up on walks, supplementation is the perfect choice. There is no beautiful, luminous skin and shiny hair without properly selected supplementation. Vitamin D is just the beginning, it is very important and we should have our levels tested at least once a year.

Doctor, regarding the current, spring and beautiful weather: by sunbathing and at the same time giving up sunscreen, are we able to replenish vitamin D deficiencies in our body?

Absolutely not, but I'll explain why in a moment. When we think about sunbathing, we can never talk about healthy skin. For me, tanned skin is screaming skin . With a lot of sunlight, even if we live in Poland, our skin is susceptible to many diseases related to excessive exposure to UV rays. Most skin cancers are caused by excessive sunbathing . The golden rule is protection with filters. Here, an individual approach is also necessary - for normal, sensitive or vascular skin. We need to look at ourselves, find out what exactly we need, and here again - I encourage you to visit a specialist who will help us set our priorities. In my opinion, there is nothing worse in medicine than the so-called "blind shots". We prefer to control our weight loss rather than our test results. Unfortunately, we work on ourselves to deal with most lifestyle diseases, not paying attention to or exaggerating the amount of substances supplied.