Vitamin D Deficiency - Symptoms, Signs, Effects

Vitamin D is found to occur most in natural sunlight. A lack of this vitamin, which incidentally is also a hormone, can lead to serious consequences. Called the sunshine vitamin, it is responsible for regulating the absorption of calcium in the bones. A lack of vitamin D is essentially associated with a disease called rickets. This is when the bones become softer and skeletal deformities come about as a result of this. There are also other serious conditions and diseases that the lack of this vitamin has been linked with. One of the most significant ones is cancer. But paradoxically, if you over expose your skin to the sun, then too there lies the risk of developing skin cancer. Finding the accurate medium is always difficult, but it is the only thing that could work. You could also stand to be at a greater risk for developing cardiovascular diseases if there is less of this vitamin in your body. In children, it could be responsible for severe asthma, and in extremely old people, it could lead to recognition impairment problems. Of course as part of a well rounded diet, it is also important that you have the adequate amount needed of this vitamin as any lack thereof could result in your general health suffering too.

Vitamin D Deficiency Supplements

The only way to make sure that you are getting enough of this vitamin as required by your body is to run a test that your doctor will prescribe. The conversion of vitamin D into usable energy happens in the kidney. The test will run a battery of 25 tests which will cover all bases and the result will let you know if your body is absorbing the required amount of this nutrient. You may need to supplement with pills if you are found to be deficient. A diet may not always be the best bet for adding to the body’s store of vitamin D. there are very few sources of this vitamin in food. Most of it can be found in lots of edible seafood, such as salmon, cod, herring, catfish, caviar, mackerel and so on. Few people can manage to include all or even any of these in their diet. Especially vegetarians, who would not be eating fish to start with. Milk in large quantities can provide vitamin D, but it is hardly possible to have 10 glasses a day. However, before looking for a supplement, you need to check with your doctor.