Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin and is often known as the sunshine vitamin because sunlight can prompt the body to produce it.  Early signs of the benefits of vitamin D were discovered in the early nineteenth century when researchers suggested that sunbathing and cod liver oil could cure rickets (softening of the bones in children and young animals which is now known to be caused by vitamin D deficiency).  Vitamin D was officially discovered in 1919 when Edward Mellanby raised a group of dogs on nothing but porridge and also kept them inside (unintentionally) meaning they had no exposure to … [Read more...]