Most people understand that Vitamin D is important, but there are still a lot of myths and misunderstandings floating around about Vitamin D, the best sources of it, and why your body needs it.

Let's change that and look in-depth at Vitamin D. It may be one of the single most powerful nutrients you're not getting enough of. 

Vitamin D was first studied when researchers began investigating the bone health of children and adults in the early 1910's. At that time, there were cases of Rickets, a painful condition where bones softened and weakened, leaving affected children with curved legs.

Some doctors discovered that Rickets could be treated and completely cured through exposure to sunlight or artificial UV light, giving teeth to the notion that there was a sun-derived vitamin connected to bone health. 

Researchers knew something was responsible for the improved bone health of theses rickets patients, but it wasn't until years of additional study that vitamin D was even identified.

Fast forward to present day when we now know that vitamin D is important for much more than just our bones, but dozens of other parts of the body as well. 

In the last decade, vitamin D has been an ongoing topic of interest for all who are health conscious. To understand all the newest information and apply the research to your own personal health, I've compiled a list of the top 10 things that every person should know about vitamin D:

1. 3 out of 4 people are vitamin D-deficient.

This harrowing statistic is one reason why vitamin D makes so many headlines. An estimated 75% of the public is putting their health at risk by not ensuring that their Vitamin D levels are up to par.

Very few nutrients are so commonly lacking in people's diets that it calls for a great deal of concern. Some even use the words "global epidemic."

The latest research from The Archives of Internal Medicine clearly shows that only about 23% of people have adequate blood levels of vitamin D (based on U.S. research). Researchers also pointed out that deficiency is even more common among dark-skinned cultures like Latinos and African Americans.

QUICK TIP: Sunbathe PLUS supplement. Sunlight is the #1 source of vitamin D. Unfortunately, people who live north of 35 degree latitude lack direct enough sun exposure to produce vitamin D year round. So, if your home is north of, say, Phoenix, AZ, you'll probably need to rely on another source of vitamin D besides the sunshine.

2. Supplementing your largest meal of the day boosts effects of vitamin D.

If you're like me, you have a daily routine of combining your supplement with specific meals; ones with breakfast, mid-day ones, and maybe a few supplements before bed.

Most people like to get their supplements in with breakfast to prevent forgetting about them later on. With vitamin D, there's actually research that can help you optimize your daily dose.

A study looking at vitamin D deficient patients found that some people were resistant to getting in the normal ranges, even with heavy vitamin D doses. So, researchers tried to understand why these patients vitamin D levels remained unchanged.

They tried a small study looking at supplementing vitamin D with "the largest meal of the day" and found that this boosted absorption and helped normalize blood levels by about 50%.

Sometimes, even with a mega dose of vitamin D, your blood level may be stubborn, keeping you stuck with a deficiency. Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, meaning it must bind to some form of fat in the intestine to be properly absorbed.

Water soluble vitamins just need some fluid to be absorbed and metabolized, but fat soluble ones require something more substantial. This can explain why combining vitamin D with the largest meal can prove beneficial.

QUICK TIP: Take your vitamin D with food. When you do supplement, make sure to include it whenever you have your biggest meal. This strategy will lead to the best outcome.

3. Vitamin D is NOT a vitamin; it's an anabolic hormone.

Are you shocked by this statement? Truthfully, we shouldn't even call vitamin D a vitamin because the title doesn't fit the nutrient. Unlike other vitamins or minerals, vitamin D is not widely present in foods and doesn't just fill a gap in our diets or is part of an enzyme. It does so much more than your typical vitamin or mineral.

Vitamin D actually causes a wide variety of effects all across the body, from promoting cell growth and division to turning genes on and off for instant actions. This type of activity has more similarity to the work done by other major hormones like insulin, testosterone or human growth hormone.

In fact, Vitamin D is so "unvitaminlike" that many experts are pushing for a rebranding of vitamin D to further reinforce how essential this nutrient is and truly reflect on its contribution to overall health.

4. Vitamin D affects over a dozen places in the body.

Parathyroid, bone, skin, kidney, colon, blood cells, Pituitary gland, ovaries ... I could list more organs and bodily functions that vitamin D is responsible for affecting, but the list would be so long. The research on vitamin D is still expanding, which means the list is ever-growing. We still don't have an exhaustive understanding of all Vitamin D does for a body. 

Though Vitamin D has a massive and complex effect on the body, the reality is simple: if you want to reverse disease, improve your energy, fight the aging process, or just keep a healthy functioning body running well, then healthy levels of this "vitamin" are 100% essential.

5. Deficiency may mean a shorter life.

This area of vitamin D research is actually quite clear. There have been several massive studies which show low vitamin D levels are closely related to shortened longevity and one's likelihood of developing some of the most common diseases: heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc.

Studies so large, the findings arrived from reviewing the blood work of thousands of people across multiple cultures. These

This article was written by Yuri Elkaim from YourTango and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.