Vitamin D deficiency is far more common than you might suppose
Posted on February 17, 2009
Filed Under Natural Remedies, Supplements | Leave a Comment
Vitamin D is essential in promoting proper absorption of calcium and phosphate, necessary for good bone health. In addition, vitamin D strengthens your immune system response and enhances strength in muscle tissue. A vitamin D deficiency has become increasingly common, primarily due to a lack of exposure to adequate sunlight. Ironically, if you regularly wear a sunscreen as protection against harmful UV rays, you’re preventing the formation of vitamin D! In most cases, all you need is 15-30 minutes of exposure to sunlight to prevent a vitamin D deficiency. Sitting outside in the early hours of the morning and late afternoon is your workaround.
Very few people are able to get sufficient quantities of vitamin D through their diet. The symptoms of a vitamin D deficiency include aching muscles, as well as weakness and pain in the bones.
Pregnant women who have a vitamin D deficiency will pass this deficiency on to their baby. The first symptoms of deficiency in infants may be muscle spasms, caused by insufficient calcium, due to malabsorption by a lack of vitamin D. If you’re breastfeeding your child, talk with your physician about vitamin D supplementation and exposure to sunlight, in healthy amounts, for your baby. Breastfeeding has many health benefits for your baby, but breast milk contains very little vitamin D.
Older people and people with darker skin are more vulnerable to this deficiency. In both cases, the requirements for vitamin D increase. Older persons may have malabsorption problems. Darker skinned persons do not form the same amounts of vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Both groups should probably have a blood test to determine the vitamin D levels in their blood. If you are deficient, consult with your doctor to determine a proper amount of supplementation.
Other repercussions may result from a vitamin D deficiency. For example, your body may try to compensate for the lack of adequate levels of calcium in the blood (caused by inadequate levels of vitamin D), by producing excessive amounts of the parathyroid hormone, eventually resulting in a condition called hyper-parathyroidism. This hormone causes calcium to be drawn out of the bones. In the case of osteoporosis, this naturally worsens your condition.Some health conditions, including genetic disorders, diseases of the kidney or liver, as well as certain medications can impair your body’s ability to convert vitamin D to a usable form.
Vitamin D is stored in the liver and metabolized through the kidneys into its active, or usable form. Only your doctor can determine the dose that’s right for you, so don’t experiment. Effective dosages range from 400 – 2000 i.u’s daily.
If you suspect you have a vitamin D deficiency, have your doctor perform blood tests to determine if this is the case. Vitamin D3 is what you want as the form of supplement, as it’s the most readily metabolized. Fatty fish, such as salmon, are good sources of vitamin D3.
You can see that you can eliminate several annoying aches and pains, while warding off the severity and development of related health conditions. The good news here is that when you restore adequate levels of vitamin D, you eliminate all the problems associated with a vitamin D deficiency. It’s worth checking out!