The topic of the day is Vitamin D.  Although known to many health care practitioners, who have stressed the inportance to their patients of having adequate amounts of vitamin d levels in our bodies, only recently has this information come to light in the media  and medical mainstream. Our main source of vitamin d throughout human history has been the sun.  Human beings evolved and developed in sunlight as did every living creature on earth. Basically, the way it works is that as our skin is exposed to sunlight, cholesterol converts the sunlight to vitamin d in our bodies. Once in our bodies , vitamin d acts more as a hormone than a vitamin and it uses and functions are incredibly numerous and essential to our health. If you wish to minimize your exposure to sunlight but want to maximize your vitamin d levels ,then taking a vitamin D3 supplement ,which is D in its natural form and the one best absorbed by the body, is your best option. A 25 Hydroxy vitamin D blood test can tell you your current vitamin d level  in your system and give you a baseline from which to begin increasing your levels. For more information on vitamin d I refer you to the website Vitamindcouncil.org. Another good website on safe, nontoxic and effective sunscreens is www.ewg.org.