Vitamin D Deficiency Explained

8:22 PM in Vitamins and Minerals

Vitamin D is very important for our overall health and proper body functions. To be more precise it regulates the calcium and phosphorus levels in our blood, helps in the absorption of calcium, which makes it highly important for the health of our bones and teeth.  According to the results of some recent studies, this vitamin plays a major role in the prevention of some diseases like hypertension, diabetes, depression, osteoporosis and similar.

What is Vitamin D deficiency?

The answer to this question is quite simple – it is a condition where the levels of vitamin D are lower than normal. This directly affects our health and should be treated as soon as possible. If we don’t pay attention to the symptoms of vitamin D deficiency, there are chances to experience some severe health problems.

Vitamin D deficiency Causes

There are several causes of vitamin D deficiency. It usually appears in people who aren’t exposed to sunlight for various reasons – because of work, or because they use sunscreen lotions most of the time, in people who don’t get vitamin D from food – vegetarians or vegans belong to this group because they don’t consume foods which have been proven as vitamin D rich foods, or if the absorption of vitamin D is inadequate because of some diseases.

Other causes of vitamin D deficiency are:

·         Age – people older than 65. They don’t spend much time outdoors and their skin absorbs vitamin D from the sun with some difficulty.

·         Skin pigmentation – people with darker skin tone need to be exposed to sunlight for a longer period of time to produce equal amounts of vitamin D than people with lighter skin tone.

·         Breastfed babies can be deficiency if the mother doesn’t take care of her own levels of vitamin D.

·         Obesity – the vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin and its utilization on obese people is reduced.

Vitamin D deficiency Symptoms

The symptoms are different depending on the person affected with it and how severe is the deficiency. Some of the symptoms which are connected to vitamin d deficiency are:

·         Chronic pain in the muscles and body

·         Weak and soft bones

·         Depression

·         Frequent infections, etc.

Recognizing these symptoms is very important because you will be in position to react in time and do a blood test to see if you are deficient or not. Accordingly, you can start with the treatment earlier and avoid severe health complications which may occur if the deficiency of vitamin D is present for a longer period of time.

Vitamin D Deficiency and Associated Diseases

Vitamin D deficiency increases the risks of various diseases. From all the diseases we are going to list here, only two are directly a result of vitamin D deficiency: rickets and osteomalacia. All the other diseases are in one way or another associated to vitamin D deficiency. These diseases are:

·         Rickets

·         Osteomalacia

·         Heart problems

·         Asthma

·         High blood pressure

·         Diabetes (Type II)

·         MS (Multiple Sclerosis)

·         Various types of cancer (some studies say that there are 17 types)

·         Osteoporosis

·         Schizophrenia

·         Dementia

·         RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis)

·         Parkinson’s disease

·         Fibromyalgia

·         Depression

·         Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Unfortunately, the list doesn’t end here.

Vitamin D Deficiency Treatment

In order to avoid the diseases which may occur if we ignore the symptoms of vitamin D deficiency we have to start with the treatment immediately after we have confirmed that we are vitamin D deficient. There are a few ways in which we obtain vitamin D and accordingly we can treat the deficiency in the same way. The best way to obtain the recommended daily doses of vitamin D is through the sunlight and this is why vitamin D is also popular as the “Sunshine” vitamin. However, sunshine exposure is usually not enough to treat the deficiency. For that reason, the treatment of vitamin D deficiency consists of taking vitamin D supplements. In order to get the right dose of vitamin D supplements, you will have to talk to your doctor and strictly follow his recommendations. Never try do treat yourself on your own.

Along with the use of vitamin D supplements, it is recommended to spend more time outdoors in the sun and add foods rich in vitamin D to your diet. By doing this you will be able to normalize your levels of vitamin D and grasp all the benefits of this valuable vitamin.