Hi! I'm sorry for butting in at the tail-end of this conversation, but I had a few comments. I know that vitamin D is created by a hormone (steroid) called 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (DHCC). This hormone enables calcium absorption through the cell membranes a lot more efficiently than calcium absorption without this hormone (DHCC is in fact a biologically active form of vitamin D3). So it's pretty evident that somehow Vitamin D3 need to be supplemented. I've done some reading about this, and all the material I come across seem to document that vitamin D3 is best obtained through exposure to UV radiation. Reptiles that are supplemented through their diet or D3 injections do not seem to do as well. I'm not sure why this is, but it may have something to do with the way D3 is created and transported. It is created by the synthesis of 7-dehydrocholesterol in the skin by UV light. This is bound to serum protein and transported to the liver where it is finally transformed into the end product, 1,25-DHCC. Maybe D3 supplemented through the diet is not as successful binding to protein? Any ideas on this?
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