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During the winter months the Sun is low in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere which means that we receive very little sunlight and almost none of the UV that we need to synthesize vitamin D in our skin.   For folks who do not move to sunny southern locations during the winter there is a solution to raising their level of vitamin D, the ‘sunshine vitamin’.   The sunshine vitamin is currently available in supplement form in doses of 1,000 IU to 5,000 IU.   To give folks an idea of suitable level of the vitamin D supplement,  just 20 minutes spent in the summer sun will typically generate about 10,000 IU of vitamin D.   The technical name for the sunshine vitamin is cholecalciferol which is also designated vitamin D3.   It is no surprise that folks typically do not come down with the flu in the summertime, but when winter arrives the flu comes right along and infects those whose immune systems are weak.   By supplementing with vitamin D3 in during the winter seniors can take a preemptive aging step to strengthen their immune system against the winter flu.