Vitamin D Research Paper

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Vitamin D is a fat soluble substance that plays a main role in the health and well-being of the human body. If vitamin D is absent or lacking in the body it would trigger the breakdown of the skeletal system, as well as other systems that are reliant on this vitamin. Vitamin D is present in a multitude of forms. The most abundant forms of the vitamin are vitamin D₃ (ergocalciferol [C28H44O]) and vitamin D₂ (cholecalciferol/calciferol [C27H44O]). Both forms of vitamin D are known as secosteriods, a steroid that has one broken steroid ring (bond). The structural difference between vitamin D2 and D3 is their side chains, a chemical group attached to the core, or backbone, of the molecule. For example, D2’s side chain is a double bond between carbon-22, carbon-23, and a methyl group attached to carbon-24. Vitamin D on the other hand, when inside the body, is changed from its original form to a hormone ( Hormone D), and undergos two hydroxylations: the first in the liver, forming calcidiol, and the second in the kidney, forming calcitriol. Vitamin D can be obtained in two main ways: ingestion and sun exposure. Both vitamin D2 and D3 depend on sun exposure (UV radiation) to activate these substances to undergo hydroxylations. Vitamin D2 is simply obtained thru sun exposure. Isst is created from viosterol, which, is created when UV radiation activates ergocsterol, later to be converted into ergocalciferol. Sterols are the biological precursors, or provitamin, of vitamin D2; they are organic molecules that occur naturally in plants, animals, and fungi. The best known sterol amongst animals is cholesterol, which is a precursor to fat soluble vitamins and steroid hormones, both of which vitamin D can be considered. Vitamin D3 is usually obtained thru the ingestion of the vitamin in either vitamin rich foods or foods to which vitamin D has been added. Some of
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