Vitamin D3 And Vitamin D2 - Find Out How They Both Are Different And How They Affect Your Health!

Vitamin D has two basic forms. They are -

- Vitamin D2

- Vitamin D3

Ergosterol is the basic vitamin D building block in plants. It is a plant sterol that is converted into vitamin D by ultraviolet radiation.

Cholesterol is the basic vitamin D building block in humans.

When the ultraviolet light present in the sunrays hits the plant's leaf, ergosterol gets converted into vitamin D2 or ergocalciferol.

Similarly, when our skin comes into contact with ultraviolet light, a form of cholesterol present in our skin cells called 7-dehydrocholesterol gets converted into cholecalciferol, which is a type of vitamin D 3.

In a plant's life, the vitamin D2 that is found in the form of ergocalciferol serves most of the purposes that it was intended for.

However, in humans, cholecalciferol does not serve the role as the final form of vitamin D. Further metabolism in our kidneys and liver is required to convert it into an active form of the essential vitamin D 3.

The vitamin D3 in the form of cholecalciferol is converted into an active form of vitamin D 3 called calcitriol or 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol through this additional metabolism.

What is "Pro-Vitamin D"?

Cholecalciferol is also called as "pro-vitamin D" or pro vitamin D3 because it is not the active form of vitamin D 3. The word "pro" in the word "pro-vitamin" implies the "preliminary form" of the vitamin.

The metabolism of vitamin D2 in plants stops to the form of ergocalciferol. However, humans can consume this plant form of vitamin D2 and convert the ergocalciferol found in plants into ercalcitriol or 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol through their metabolic process in the kidneys and liver.