Whether you use cleansers, toners, or moisturizers as part of your daily skin care regime, we all share the collective goal to clear away our impurities and have smooth, acne-free skin. And although there are various vitamins that are beneficial in maintaining a healthy skin, in combating acne, vitamin D is your best bet. Vitamin D, which is also referred to as the “sunshine vitamin”, should be incorporated into your daily skincare regimen because of its numerous benefits.
This vitamin helps in minimizing hormonal acne and relieving inflammation by stabilizing the body’s insulin response. The sunshine vitamin also improves the production of antioxidants and boosts the body’s immunity, which in turn, contribute to a healthy skin. Additionally, vitamin D is known for improving your mood and decreasing depression. This may assist in managing stress levels and reducing amounts of a hormone, cortisol, which results in acne.
Several studies have indicated that about half of the world’s population suffers from a vitamin D deficiency. Of course, this is a huge figure, especially as the body produces this vitamin from sun exposure.
What is Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is the only vitamin that is manufactured by the body and converted to the hormone calcitriol. The body produces vitamin D through the skin’s exposure to the sun. Sadly, the body is unable to manufacture enough to meet its needs. This makes it essential to get extra amounts of the vitamin from other sources such as foods rich in vitamin D, and supplements.
The hormone, calcitriol is very important as it controls the body’s phosphate and calcium levels, which helps to boost bone density. Furthermore, if calcitriol isn’t adequate, the other hormones start trying to compensate for this. This can result in the overproduction of skin oil (sebum) and rising activity in the sebaceous glands. This is what causes acne. The lack of calcitriol increases the risk of acne and clogs skin pores with dead skin cells.
Benefits of Vitamin D to the Skin
- Boosts Sensitivity to Insulin
Vitamin D helps to regulate the body’s response to insulin. Insulin is hormone produced in the pancreas. Insulin supports the body to converting or storing sugar that you get from eating carbs to energy. Insulin helps in stabilizing blood sugar level and stops it from getting too high or too low. When insulin level is low in the body, the body uses fat instead of glucose as a source of energy. Insulin resistance happens when the body is unable to respond to insulin and the body fails to use it for its original purposes, which results in high blood sugar and an excess of insulin in the body. In combination with other hormones, insulin helps to stimulate the sebaceous glands to create more sebum that may cause acne or worsen acne that is already present.
- Relieves Inflammation
Vitamin D minimizes swelling and so helps to reduce the appearance of acne and redness.
- Improves the Production of Antioxidants
The body manufactures its own antioxidants and vitamin D helps it achieve that. Antioxidants are responsible for protecting the skin from damage brought on by free radicals. They help clear clogged pores, which, in turn, make the skin smoother, softer and clearer.
- Other Benefits to the Whole Body
Vitamin D strengthens the body’s immunity. For instance, during winter, the body gets less exposure to sunlight; this reduces the body’s Vitamin D storage, making it easier to catch colds and fever. What vitamin D does is to help the body combat bacteria and prevent degenerative diseases. This all-important vitamin is known for fighting cancer by minimizing the reproduction of cancer cells.
Vitamin D is the major component behind the absorption of calcium in the body, which prevents osteoporosis. The vitamin may also improve moods, reduce the risk of depression and anxiety by improving the amount of the hormone called cortisol.
The Link between Vitamin D and Acne
Studies are now establishing a stronger link between vitamin D levels in the body and acne. Now, we all know vitamin D is a fat-soluble hormone that’s found in dairy products, fatty fish, and fortified food products. It is also known as “the sunshine vitamin” because vitamin D can be gotten from an exposure to sunshine.
To Acne: Acne is a skin condition that occur when the pores become blocked or clogged, resulting in blackheads and redness on the skin. Acne also be caused by changes in hormone levels, oils, bacteria, and other factors. A vitamin D deficiency may also cause acne or make it worse.
In fact, in a 2014 study, results showed that people who had nodulocystic acne could have more severe symptoms if their vitamin D levels were low. In another study, people with acne had significantly improved symptoms when they took vitamin D supplements.
How to Get Enough Vitamin D
Of course, it’s best to get Vitamin D naturally, from the sun. In fact, the body gets all the vitamin D it needs for several days within 15 minutes of full body exposure to the sun. However, there are other sources of the vitamin.
- Always incorporate into your diet foods that are rich in Vitamin D. These foods include mushrooms, salmon, liver, cod liver oil, tuna, oysters, mackerel, and eggs.
- However, it is difficult getting adequate vitamin D from food alone, even if they are fortified food products. But do not fret yet. To meet the daily requirements of vitamin D, take a supplement to ensure that you are getting the recommended daily dose. After first trying to obtain your daily dose of Vitamin D from the sun and food sources, you can take a supplement. Vitamin D supplements are generally considered safe and effective.
- To be sure, have your blood tested by a qualified healthcare to find out exactly how much supplement your body needs. When considering a vitamin D supplement, go for D3 instead of D2. Vitamin D3 is cholecalciferol, which is similar to the natural vitamin D that your skin creates from sun exposure. Also, ensure that the supplement does not contain harsh chemical additives, particularly magnesium stearate. Magnesium stearate is usually used to stop the contents of a drug from sticking to the inside of the capsule.
The Bottom Line
Vitamin D is effective for treating acne. However, the vitamin alone will not heal your acne. It is essential to eat a balanced diet, keep to a skincare routine, get quality sleep, and take your daily dose of vitamin D3 supplements. The supplement is capable of healing your skin and curbing the risk of future acne. It fights the effects of hormonal imbalance and the overproduction of sebum.
Like we stated earlier, hormonal imbalance is the major cause of over-stimulation of the sebaceous gland and excess production of sebum. Consequently, excess sebum, dirt on the skin, dead skin cells are the ideal environment for acne bacteria to thrive.
Most people are already aware of the extraordinary benefits of Vitamin D, so we encourage you to get some sun exposure, incorporate Vitamin D food sources into your diet, take your vitamin D3 supplements, and follow your daily skin care routine. We can’t wait to know your results!
