Reduce Winter's Aches & Pains with Vitamin D

Does your low back pain, arthritis or fibromyalgia flare up more in the winter months? Chances are a Vitamin D deficiency is to blame.

During the cold of winter, particularly in the northern third of the country, the changed angle of the sun's rays plus more time spent indoors or bundled up while outdoors make getting enough of the sunshine vitamin naturally almost impossible.

Numerous studies have linked Vitamin D deficiencies to chronic inflammation and illness. Simply taking a supplement of this vital nutrient can dramatically reduce inflammation and related pain for those not getting enough through sunshine and diet.

As one example of how powerful a Vitamin D supplement can be, a study of lower back pain sufferers with no obvious cause of pain found 83% had a Vitamin D deficiency. By supplementing with Vitamin D, every single patient originally diagnosed with a deficiency experienced an improvement in symptoms. Interestingly, 95% of all patients benefitted from supplementation regardless of their initial Vitamin D levels.

This winter, beat winter's aches and pains by increasing your Vitamin D intake. Start with 3,000-10,000 IU daily for a month if already in pain, then continue with 1,000-3,000 IU daily.

When choosing your supplement, look for one which uses Vitamin D3, known as cholecalciferol. This form metabolizes differently and can be as much as 3 times more effective than Vitamin D2 in raising levels of Vitamin D in the body and maintains those higher levels longer.