It's the dark days of winter in the Northern Hemisphere in which the sun shines less and is lower in the sky. That means your body has less of a chance of making vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin. Vitamin D is an essential nutrient, meaning your body can't produce it on its own. In this episode, we discuss what vitamin D is and what it does in your body, how you can get vitamin D and how using sunscreen affects how much you have, and what vitamin D defficiency means to your health.

Select references cited in this podcast:

Effect of Vitamin D3 Supplements on Development of Advanced Cancer: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2773074

The Role of Water-Soluble Viatmins and Vitamin D in Prevention and Treatment of Depression and Seasonal Affective Disorder in Adults: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/12/1902

Supplemental Vitamin D and Incident Fractures in Midlife and Older Adults: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2202106