Is Spain the ideal (sun) vitamin D country?

Vitamin D is important for a human body because it increases the absorption of calcium which is important for maintaining strong bones and teeth and to keep muscles flexible and strong. Vitamin D also plays a role in improving your resistance, supports your immune system and also contributes to the production of cells and tissues in your body. Vitamin D is therefore a versatile vitamin that is important to get enough.

The good news is that vitamin D is a relatively easy vitamin to get into your body since vitamin D can be made through sunlight. Since Spain is an ideal country with regard to the sun, we wonder whether the country is the ideal vitamin D country. Vitamin D is also called sun vitamin and one should have had enough in Spain.

Spain has an average of 320 days of sunshine per year, making the country ideal for refueling vitamin D. So there are fewer gloomy days than sunny days in Spain. The sun is not only good for your mood but also provides vitamin D in your body. In addition, the Spanish blue sky also makes you happy. The Dutch and Belgian gray skies are depressing. Blue light has an activating effect on our brains and a blue sky combined with the sun has a positive effect on your body.

Sun vitamin

Vitamin D is therefore produced by solar radiation and in the months of April to October (in the Netherlands and Belgium) and in Spain perhaps in a longer period (or even all year round) is the best time to be outside in the sun between 11 and 3 p.m. in the Netherlands and Belgium, which is different at other times in Spain when it is less hot.

With only half an hour in the sun, a large proportion of all necessary Vitamin D is already produced. It is important that the head and hands are not covered.

To get vitamin D through the sun it is therefore important to go outside and since in many places in Spain it is often (but not always) sunny weather, it is to go outside to take a walk or to a terrace to sit more attractive. Applying sunscreen creams or lotions reduces the production of vitamin D by 97% (factor 8) to 99% (factor 15). If you want to spend more than half an hour in the sun, it is wise to protect yourself after the first 30 minutes.

It is also sometimes referred to as a shadow rule. You only make vitamin D through sunlight if your shadow is shorter than your height, or from solar power 3. That is in the Netherlands only from May / June but earlier in Spain and also continues longer.

Fish

If the daily sun in Spain is also combined with the wonderfully fresh fish, then you can be sure of sufficient vitamin D. Although vitamin D is present in small amounts in food, a combination of sun and food is ideal.

Vitamin D is mainly found in fatty fish (pescado azul) such as salmon, mackerel, sardines, tuna, catfish and eel, but is also present in smaller amounts in meat, eggs and milk products.

In the Netherlands, vitamin D has been added to margarine, low-fat margarine and other baking and roasting products since 1961, but these are not widely used in Spain. Vitamin D is also present in the olive oil (vitamins A, D, E and K) that is used much more in Spain.

acknowledgment: Spanjevandaag.com