Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is a fat-soluble vitamin. It can also be formed in the body with UVB radiation. This requires sufficient exposure to sunlight. In food, it is found mainly in fatty fish (maties, eel) or is added to food as a dietary supplement.
If vitamin D is lacking, this not only makes bones soft, but also has a strong effect on the mind. It is not for nothing that the so-called winter depression strikes during the dark season – many people suffer from it all year round. Just under half of all northern Europeans are deficient in vitamin D. The body is stressed by alcohol.
The alcohol-stressed body consumes more of it. The main store of the important vitamin is the liver. Here, the body normally saves the extra portion for the time when it cannot produce the vitamin itself. However, if the liver is damaged by alcohol, this no longer works properly.
Vitamin D plays such an important role in our body that it is worth taking an extra portion when we stop drinking alcohol. However, not in the long run, but only for the first time. Vitamin D is fat-soluble and accumulates in the liver – which is why you can overdose on it in the long run.
More about this in the book “Bye bye, booze!”
