As you know, vitamin D is produced when UVB radiation from the sun (or a safe tanning bed) strikes your skin. Vitamin D is a fat soluble nutrient, so your skin converts a cholesterol derivative in your skin into vitamin D3, a steroid hormone.

However, the vitamin D3 that is formed is on the surface of your skin does not immediately penetrate your bloodstream because it needs to be absorbed first.

But how long does it take for vitamin D3 to penetrate your skin and reach your bloodstream?

Until recently, Dr. Mercola believed that this took about an hour or two. However, new evidence reveals that it takes up to two days before you can assimilate the majority of the vitamin D that was produced when you exposed your skin to the sun. Meaning, if you shower and soap, you’ll be washing away most of the vitamin D3 your skin produced and negate the benefits of sun exposure.

So if you want to make sure that you’re still getting healthy vitamin D levels, you have to delay washing your body with soap for about 48 hours after getting sun exposure because the vitamin D you produced from sunlight is still in the oils of your skin and can be washed away before it’s absorbed into your blood.

Not a lot of people will be too keen to not take a bath for two days.

But come to think of it, this is not really a major hygiene issue because you really only need to soap your underarms and groin area and avoid soaping up the larger areas of your body that you exposed to the sun.

Aside from showering with soap, taking statin drugs or proton pump inhibitors (medicine that reduces gastric acid production) will lower your cholesterol levels, and since cholesterol is a vitamin D precursor, this will decrease your body’s ability to produce vitamin D.

Skipping the shower will not only help you optimize your vitamin D levels, it will also help you avoid the dangers of disinfection byproducts, chlorine and other contaminants in the commercial water supply.

Around the world, countries have launched different measures as part of efforts to contain the spread of the swine flu virus. Mexico has ordered a five-day, nationwide shutdown of all nonessential government and private businesses. Egypt has slaughtered almost 300,000 pigs, even though it had not confirmed any swine flu cases. In Lebanon, kissing in the cheeks as a form of greeting (a national custom in the country) is being discouraged.

Swine flu masks are also gaining popularity although there is no conclusive evidence that they are effective in slowing down the spread of the h1n1 virus.

After assessing the progress of the outbreak in the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security assured the public that the h1n1 virus appears to be no more dangerous than the normal flu virus. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Americans can be “cautiously optimistic” that the particular strain will not be more severe than a normal seasonal flu outbreak.

At present, h1n1 flu has hit 36 states, with New York and Massachusetts confirming dozens of new cases that have not yet been added to the CDC total of 279.

Dr. Joseph Mercola, author of the New York Times’ bestseller The Great Bird Flu Hoax, believes that like the bird flu scare, the h1n1 flu outbreak has been exaggerated by the media. He also points out that the government’s track record in handling flu outbreaks is spotty, to say the least.

Just take a look at the 1976 swine flu outbreak at Fort Dix, New Jersey. One soldier died and hundreds were infected, prompting then President Gerald Ford to order a mass vaccination program. The result? Thirty people who took the flu shot died while others suffered paralysis due to Guillain-Barré syndrome. Oh, by the way, no epidemic materialized.

The CDC recommends the use of the popular flu drug Tamiflu to help fight swine flu despite the growing evidence exposing its ineffectiveness as an antiviral drug. Tamiflu, which is banned in Japan after being linked in the deaths of 14 children, can only reduce flu symptoms by 24 to 36 hours, and some flu patients increase their risk for secondary bacterial infections when on it.

Other Tamiflu side effects include convulsions, delirium, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, fatigue and cough.

Tamiflu also costs over $100. Does it make sense for you to take a flu drug that’s ineffective, expensive and potentially dangerous?

Dr. Mercola has never taken a flu shot yet he’s never gone down with the flu in over two decades. Here are Mercola’s tips on how to naturally avoid the flu:

• Get healthy doses of vitamin D – Mercola believes that vitamin D deficiency is likely the real culprit behind the seasonality of the flu. If you experience flu-like symptoms, you can take 50,000 units of vitamin D3 per day for three days to help treat the infection.
• Eat foods rich in Omega-3 fats – The omega-3 fats DHA and EPA help enhance your immune system and are crucial in maintaining good health.
• Avoid Sugar and Processed Foods – Sugar is one of your immune system’s worst enemies. Sugar may be present in foods you may not suspect, like processed fruit juices.
• Manage Your Stress Levels – Stress wears out your body and decreases its ability to fight disease.
• Rest – If you’re always tired or overly fatigued, you’ll only make it harder for yourself to beat the flu.
• Exercise – Your circulation and blood flow increases when you exercise and allows the components of your immune system to spread out better, increasing its chances of detecting and fighting an infection before it spreads.
• Eat more garlic – Don’t worry about your breath too much. Garlic is a food you should be eating regularly because it’s antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal and helps your body fight viruses, bacteria and protozoa.

Vitamin D has been getting a lot of attention recently but early research has limited our understanding of its benefits. This may have contributed to the current vitamin D deficiency epidemic.

What we knew before was that vitamin D metabolizes phosphorous and helps maintain strong bones and teeth by regulating the amount of calcium in the body. But vitamin D gives you so much more than that. Recent studies have showed this nutrient can affect virtually your entire body, providing hundreds of potential health benefits.

That’s because vitamin D can categorized as a vitamin and as hormone at the same time. A vitamin, by definition, is consumed through your diet, meaning your body cannot make it on its own, while hormones are produced by your body.

You produce a type of vitamin D called vitamin D3 or cholecalciferol when sunlight strikes your bare skin. Cholecalciferol also directly produces calcidiol, an important prehormone in your blood used to determine your vitamin D levels in a lab test.

On the other hand, calcitriol, vitamin D’s metabolic product, is a secosteroid hormone made in your kidneys from calcidiol that targets over 2000 genes (almost 10 percent of the human genome) in your body, which is why the lack of vitamin D is potentially dangerous to your health.

The American Public Health Association has listed vitamin D deficiency as the top health concern in the country. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with least 17 types of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, birth defects, periodontal disease, and other illnesses.

How to Optimize Your Vitamin D Levels

• Get regular sun exposure in the late spring, summer and early fall by exposing as much of your skin as possible.
• Use a safe tanning bed during the colder months.
• Eat vitamin D-rich foods like raw milk, eggs, organ meats, animal fat, cod liver oil and fish.
• Take vitamin D supplements. The correct type to take is vitamin D3. You can start by taking 5,000 IU (international units) per day for three months, then obtain a 25-hydroxyvitamin D test (the correct type of vitamin D test to use) to find out if you are getting enough vitamin D.

Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) supplements are also available but they’re not advisable to use because vitamin D2 is a synthetic type of vitamin D.

When your body takes in vitamin D3 and vitamin D2, both types need to be converted to a more active form. Vitamin D3 is converted 500 percent faster than vitamin D2.

Keep in mind that because almost 90 percent of the vitamin D produced within your body is a result of sun exposure, you should not rely on getting it from natural foods or from vitamin D supplements.

Your need for sun exposure is like your natural need for food, oxygen, water and exercise. So put the sunshine back in our life and stop missing out on one of the most important nutrients for your health.