We all know that Sun is the natural source that provides vitamin D. When the body gets exposed to mild sunlight, it produces vitamin D. This can also be obtained from various food stuffs like fish, oil, egg, milk and dairy products.
Vitamin D is vital for the development of strong bones since it is the source that makes your body to absorb calcium from the diet. Vitamin D deficiency will cause rickets (soft bone tissue and deformity in skeleton). People who are allergic to milk are at increased ris of D deficiency.
Symptoms :
Individuals who lack vitamin D will have constant pain in bones and other muscles. It would gradually weaken the movement of muscles causing more complication. People, who lack vitamin D in proper ratio, are under the risk of getting cardiovascular disease. It would also cause cognitive impairment in elderly persons. Lack of D vitamin would cause intense Asthma in children.
It would also cause bone related cancers in the long run since the bones become weak without immunity. Vitamin D is also responsible for managing and treating diabetics and Hypertension to some extent it is essential to have proper quantity of vitamin D for managing good health.
Causes :
Number of factors causes vitamin D deficiency. If you are a person who follows strict vegetarian diet, you are at risk of having shortage of Vitamin D. Normally animals have the richest source of this vitamin and hence vegan people are likely to get this problem.
Vitamin D deficiency can occur when the child is not exposed to sunlight at all. Our body is naturally trained to prepare this vitamin in the presence of sunlight. Hence it is essential to keep the child well exposed to direct sunlight if you are living in polar altitudes or always in the habit of wearing full covered clothing.
People who lack melanin pigment in their skin cannot make vitamin D even in the presence of sunlight. Dark skinned people are under this cover hence they are at risk for getting this deficiency.
Age also affects vitamin D synthesis since kidneys become less capable for converting D vitamin to active form. Certain medical conditions like Cystic Fibrosis, Crohn’s disease will weaken the digestive tract to absorb Vitamin D.
People who are overweight will have normally low levels of vitamin D in their blood since fat cells extract this vitamin from the blood making you deficient.
Diagnoses :
Vitamin D blood test is done for measuring the exact amount in blood. If you have less than 12 ng per milliliter you are vitamin D deficient.
Treatment :
Your diet can be supplemented with vitamin D for getting adequate levels of this vitamin resource in blood. In case you are deficient of this vitamin you should take plenty of sea foods, fish, fish oil and eggs in your diet for reaching the optimal level.
