Eating Well - Beaming with Health

168 TAe Commonsense Guide to Eating WeZZ
liver makes bile, and lecithin (or choline) is often given if
there is a diminishment in bile activity.
Conditions that might benefit from extra choline
Gallstones, liver problems, problems digesting fat, high cholesterol
and multiple sclerosis.
Food sources of choline
Lecithin, eggs, soybeans, liver, peanuts, sesame seeds, brazil
nuts, legumes and whole grains.
Vitamin D - cholecalcirferol
The study of vitamins is comparatively new and the classification
of vitamins has been slapdash at best. Vitamin D is
actually a hormone masquerading as a vitamin. By the time
it was found out that vitamin D has more in common with
hormones than vitamins, the damage was done. Too expensive
to change the stationery.
The main function of vitamin D is to help calcium be
incorporated into bone, giving bone the rock-hardness it
needs. Given enough sunshine, we can make vitamin D very
easily. Sunlight acts on cholesterol on the skin's surface and
is transformed into cholecalciferol, aka vitamin D. Vitamin D
has been dubbed the 'sunshine vitamin' for this reason. It
takes only a few minutes every few days for enough vitamin
D to be formed. In Australia, with its obscenely sunny
climate, vitamin D deficiency is rare. The classic deficiency
disease is rickets, epitomised by poor British kids sent down
the mines not seeing sunshine for days and weeks at a time
and ending up somewhat short in stature with bandy legs.
Other people at risk are those who live in year-Iong dull climates,
people who wear lots of clothing (some traditional
women in the Middle East) and rarely go outside (some
elderly people). Sunscreen inhibits vitamin D synthesis.