VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY: SYMPTOMS, CAUSES, AND TREATMENT
Vitamin D, also known as the sunshine vitamin, is essential for your body to function well and stay healthy. It is produced by the body when your skin gets exposed to sunlight.
Vitamin D helps in maintaining strong bones, strengthens muscles, promotes calcium absorption in your gut, protects your oral health, plays a role in the functioning of parathyroid glands, aids in preventing many health conditions such as osteoporosis, rickets, cancer, multiple sclerosis, weight loss, cardiovascular diseases, depression, and, type 2 diabetes, supports in regulating cell growth and genes, enhances the immune system by fighting off harmful microbes and protects against Covid-19 severity.
- Vitamin D can also be obtained naturally from food sources such as egg yolks, fish, fish liver oils, and fortified dairy products.
- In modern days, people are unable to get sufficient vitamin D from sunlight due to various reasons like working in closed environments, high melanin content that obstructs the penetration of sun rays into the body, living in regions where UV light does not reach the earth for about 6 months of duration. As a result, people tend to suffer from Vitamin D deficiency.
- The daily vitamin D intake varies from individual to individual, depending on age factors. Infants require 400 IU of Vitamin D, Children of age 1 to 13 and teens of age 14 -18 requires 600 IU of Vitamin D, Adults of age 19 to 70 and above requires 600 – 800 IU of Vitamin D. In comparison, pregnant and breastfeeding women require 600 IU of recommended dietary allowance of Vitamin D per day.
- Older adults, obese people, Chronic kidney or liver disease patients, people with dark skin, hyperparathyroidism, lymphoma, Crohn’s disease or Celiac disease, breastfed infants are at higher risk of Vitamin D deficiency.
- In children, vitamin D deficiency leads to rickets, a rare disease that makes the bones soft and bends. Severe vitamin D deficiency effects in adults lead to a condition called Osteomalacia.
- If the recommended dietary allowance (IU/day) of Vitamin D doesn’t meet your body’s requirement, it leads to a deficiency. However, it is always advisable to check the symptoms of vitamin D deficiency and be aware of its causes that make you often ill.
- Here, we provide you with information about the vitamin D deficiency symptoms and causes that elevate the route for treating Vitamin D deficiency.
Symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency
Here are a few Vitamin D deficiency symptoms that need to be checked out and considered seriously.
1. Depression and Anxiety
- According to some studies, a depressed mood and anxiety are signs of Vitamin D deficiency.
- An individual with lower blood levels of vitamin D has been associated with depression and anxiety disorders. Vitamin D deficiency affects the role of vitamin D receptors in the brain.
- According to research studies, the levels of Calcidiol, a form of vitamin D, were found to be low in people associated with anxiety and depression.
2. Bone pain/Back pain/Joint pain
- Vitamin D plays a crucial role in maintaining bone health in many ways.
- Bone pain and chronic lower back pain are the signs of vitamin D deficiency, in which vitamin D levels are inadequate in the blood.
- Research studies found that people with joint pain resulting from rheumatoid arthritis and severe back pain are likely to be associated with lower vitamin D levels.
3. Hair loss
- Hair loss is a significant sign of vitamin D deficiency, especially in people with autoimmune (alopecia areata) and female pattern hair loss conditions.
- Alopecia areata is characterized by severe hair loss from the head region and other body parts.
- Usually, hair loss occurs due to stress, and in severe cases, it might be the result of nutrient deficiencies such as vitamin D deficiency.
- According to research studies, hair loss in women is linked to lower vitamin D levels.
4. Weight gain
- Weight gain is one of the vitamin D deficiency symptoms associated with overweight or obesity.
- Accumulation of abdominal fat and increased weight in individuals has been linked with low vitamin D levels.
- Obesity in children and adults results in significant health problems such as heart-related diseases and diabetes.
- Vitamin D plays a major role in maintaining body fat, body mass index, and cholesterol levels in the body.
- Hence, vitamin D deficiency affects the body’s metabolism, leading to weight gain.
5. Muscle pain
- Vitamin D deficiency is the potential cause of muscle pain in young and older adults.
- Low vitamin D levels affect the receptors present in nerve cells called nociceptors that help sense pain.
- According to a few studies, vitamin D gets involved with the body’s pain signaling pathways, thereby acting a role in chronic pain.
- In another study, almost 71% of people with chronic muscle pain were diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency.
6. Bone loss
- Vitamin D plays a vital role in bone metabolism and calcium absorption.
- Low bone mineral density can be a sign of vitamin D deficiency.
- Researchers have found that middle-aged menopausal or postmenopausal women remarkably correlate low bone mineral density and low vitamin D levels.
- As you get older, the only way to restore your bone mass is to obtain enough levels of vitamin D in the form of supplements or diet.
Causes of Vitamin D deficiency
Here are some causes or risk factors of vitamin D deficiency:
1. Heart diseases:
Vitamin D deficiency is known to cause the risk of hypertension, congestive heart failure, heart attack, and chronic blood vessel inflammation.
2. Diabetes:
Vitamin D helps reduce inflammation, a significant process in influencing insulin resistance. The deficiency of vitamin D is linked to the subsequent onset of diabetes caused by the death of β cells.
3. Immune system disorders:
Vitamin D deficiency is the leading cause for the development of certain immune system disorders or autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), multiple sclerosis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), etc.
4. Breast cancers:
According to recent studies, women diagnosed with breast cancer are more likely to possess vitamin D deficiency. Almost 73% of women with inadequate vitamin D levels associated with breast cancer die within 10 years of experiencing cancer spread.
5. Prostate cancers:
According to the study of National Cancer Institute researchers, vitamin D deficiency is correlated to prostate cancer. Vitamin D helps in preventing the growth of prostate cancer in men.
Treatment for Vitamin D deficiency
The following ways help you manage vitamin D deficiency primarily.
1. Check vitamin D levels:
Get your vitamin D tests done at the right time to evaluate your health complications. Vitamin D level less than 12 ng/ml indicates the deficiency of vitamin D. Remember to maintain adequate vitamin D levels in your body.
2. Sunlight:
Get exposure to sunlight every day for at least 15-30 minutes.
3. Diet:
Include foods rich in vitamin D and calcium sources in your diet, such as almonds, eggs, milk, liver, fatty fish, etc.
4. Supplements:
Vitamin D deficiency can also be treated with Vitamin D dietary supplements as recommended by your physician and are available in the form of D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol).
Conclusion:
Vitamin D deficiency is quite common among people with many health complications and a weak immune system. So, if you experience any of the vitamin D symptoms that mess up your daily life, then it’s time to consult your physician to find out the proper treatment for vitamin D deficiency. It is always good to restore vitamin D levels to the normal range, and it helps to cope with heart-related diseases, cancers, and other health issues.