What Causes Vitamin D Deficiency
What causes vitamin D Deficiency? Vitamin D is on of the most common types of vitamin deficiency. This condition appears as a result of not ingesting enough preformed vitamin D (found in eggs, fish, fortified milk and cod liver oil), lack of sun exposure (the sun helps us produce this vitamin), and malabsorption (due to conditions that keep vitamin D from converting into active metabolites).
Certain conditions keep us from getting enough sun exposure, people who live near the north pole, people with dark skin, old and young people who don’t go out too much, and people who cover their skin frequently (like for example in some Muslim countries) can suffer of vitamin D deficiency caused by inadequate sun exposure. Sun exposure is the deciding factor in our levels of vitamin D, since we don’t get too much of it from food.
Having said that, it is also good to keep a healthy diet to supplement any lack of vitamin D production. Infants for example may benefit greatly from a diet with fortified milk, since this type of milk has added vitamins that common milk doesn’t have.
The RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) can help us determine the amount of vitamin D needed to avoid deficiencies. On adults, the RDA is 200 IU a day (IU stands for International Units). It is wise to choose food containing higher levels of this vitamin, or else we’ll need great amounts of one food to get to the needed levels.
Now that you know the causes, know that it is greatly a matter of prevention. You should go out everyday for a few minutes at least to get the help of the rays of the sun and ensure that you have a good, healthy diet that meets your nutritional needs.
If a vitamin D deficiency is prolonged it will have an impact on your bones and will develop bowed legs. This luckily is not as common as before, there are fewer cases. This condition is called rickets or osteomalacia (varies according to the age of the patient) and the symptoms include weakness in muscles, easily fractured bones, reduced bone strength and waddling walk.
Excessive sun exposure can also be dangerous, making us run risk of developing skin cancer. It is good to also ask a doctor what the ideal sun exposure time is in your specific case to help the production of vitamin D in a responsible, healthy way.
your information was very helpful i was just diagnosed with vitamin d deficiency so iam trying to get as much inforation as i can
I have recently been diagnosed with a vitiman D def. I have severe leg pain. More in one leg than the other. The pain is so severe that I can not sleep at night. Is this pain a result of the deficiency? My level was below 17 (?) The doctor prescribed 50,000 units of vitamin D twice a week. Will this help the pain to decrease? If so how long will it take?
I have been experience severe almost debilitating pain in my pelvis mostly when I sit (at job) for long, a great deal of pain in my hips and knees too. I get a lot of muscle spasms in my feet and the pain and spasms often keep me up at night. While I do have other conditions (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) that I thought explained my joint/pelvis pain, my doctor decided to check my Vitamin D levels because I am lactose intolerant and gave up milk 30 years ago, rarely eat any dairy and am allergic to sunlight so I avoid it (break out in hives in the sun). Turns out I was just diagnosed with Vitamin D deficiency and have been prescribed 50k units of Vit D daily. My blood level showed only 13 (I was told normal is between 30 and 100). I never would have thought it could be a vitamin deficiency!
My doctor recently told me to take 5,000 IU’s of Vitamin D once a day because my vitamin D level is low. Does this seem correct? It seems like a very high amount to take each day. Also, does anyone know how long it takes for the vitamins to work? I got blood work because I’m in my late 20’s and am constantly tired and having stomach pains. I’m happy that I finally found out what the issue is, but I am just wondering if anyone can give me advice on what else to increase my vitamin D level.