Why Vitamin D Deficiency Is Not Good for Your Health
By Madhusudhan Tammisetti
When Vitamin D is below the normal level, people suffer from hypovitaminosis D, or Vitamin D deficiency. The most common reasons for Vitamin D deficiency are lack of exposure to sunlight, inadequate Vitamin D intake, disorders preventing Vitamin D absorption, and health conditions that prevent the conversion of Vitamin D into active metabolites.
What Is the Importance of Vitamin D?
Vitamin D keeps bones strong. Healthy bones prevent various health conditions such as rickets, and Vitamin D deficiency is the most common reason for rickets. Rickets is a bone condition that causes weakening and softening of bones in children. This is caused when there is not enough Vitamin D in the diet. Some of rickets' symptoms include a large forehead, bone pain, stunted growth, bowed legs, and trouble sleeping.
Vitamin D deficiency can lead to low calcium and phosphorous levels, which can result in the softening of bones in adults called osteomalacia. Vitamin D and calcium help build bones and keep them strong and healthy. Vitamin D deficiency weakens the bones and can lead to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a bone disorder that results in bone density loss, which may lead to bone fractures. Taken either orally or through exposure to sunlight, Vitamin D is broken down into its active form, which promotes in the optimal absorption of calcium from the diet.
The parathyroid glands manage the calcium level in the blood. It maintains the calcium levels by constantly communicating with the gut, kidneys, and skeleton. Dietary calcium is absorbed when you get a sufficient amount of calcium and Vitamin D from the diet. If Vitamin D is low, or there's insufficient calcium intake, the parathyroid glands take calcium from the skeleton to keep the calcium levels in the normal range.
Some of the Causes of Vitamin D Deficiency
Chances of Vitamin D deficiency increases as you get older. People of advancing age often suffer from different health conditions because of decreased skin thickness which may preclude adequate absorption of Vitamin D from sunlight (and they may get inadequate sunlight), and insufficient Vitamin D intake from diet.
People suffering from obesity may also have Vitamin D deficiency. Fat cells isolate Vitamin D and prevent it from releasing. When you go through a weight loss surgery, the surgery can reduce the stomach's size or bypass a part of the small intestine, which makes it difficult to take a sufficient amount of certain vitamins, nutrients, and minerals.
Just take a walk for 15-20 minutes in the sunlight to absorb sufficient Vitamin D for your body. You can get Vitamin D from cow's milk, soy milk, orange juice, salmon, egg yolk, canned tuna, and sardines.
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