Vitamin D Deficiency: Symptoms, Prevention, Diagnosis, Causes & Disease

Vitamin D Deficiency: Are you getting enough Vitamin D! 

Vitamin D is essential for bones. Its main source is the sun's rays. If there is too much vitamin D deficiency in the body, then it is called vitamin D deficiency. It is very essential for the body. Vitamin D is essential for absorption of calcium, health of bones, help in growth of cells and reducing inflammation etc. When exposed to sunlight, your body automatically produces vitamin D from your own cholesterol. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin. It helps the body to digest calcium and absorb.

Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency 

Just by taking a healthy and balanced diet, vitamin D levels cannot always be kept balanced in the body. Even if you eat vitamin D-rich foods, you are at risk of vitamin D deficiency because vitamin D cannot be replenished in the body only through diet. If your lifestyle and routine is such that you cannot get sunlight, then you may feel the following symptoms:-

1. Stay sad: Being depressed or feeling irritable are signs of vitamin D deficiency.
2. Gain weight: If you are suddenly getting fat or you gain weight, then it means that there is a deficiency of Vitamin D in your body. The special thing is that vitamin D is required more in overweight people than underweight people.
3. Recurrent infection: You should know that Vitamin D strengthens your immunity. When your immunity is strong, then it helps you to fight against bacteria and viruses.
4. Feeling tired: Although there can be many reasons for feeling tired, but due to lack of vitamin, there is also fatigue.
5. Non healing wounds: The delay in the healing and wound healing after injury is also a sign that there is a deficiency of vitamin D in the body.
6. Bone loss: Vitamin D is very important for the absorption of calcium. If the density of bones in your body is decreasing it means that there is a deficiency of calcium in your body. Due to lack of calcium, the risk of factor increases.
7. Digestive problems: Vitamin D is a type of fat soluble vitamin. Any type of digestive disease affects the absorption of fat, which also lowers the level of vitamin D.
8. Bones and joints pain: Vitamin D deficiency affects the health of bones as well as bone pain due to lack of vitamin D. This pain is felt more on the knees and back. Apart from this, the risk of osteoporosis (a type of bone disease), bone pain and easy to get factored in due to lack of vitamin D increases significantly.
9. Head sweating: Often, the head sweats due to lack of vitamin D. This symptom is common especially in the newborn. Head sweating is one of the earliest symptoms of vitamin D deficiency.
10. Hair fall: Hair loss is often associated with stress, however, along with it, vitamin D deficiency is also a common cause.

Read also: If you are also troubled by psoriasis, know it's symptoms! 

Causes & Risk factors of vitamin D deficiency

Your body mainly supplies vitamin D through diet and sunlight. Vitamin D deficiency in your body can be due to various reasons:-

1. Not getting enough vitamin D through diet.
2. Not being able to absorb enough vitamin D from the diet.
3. Take in sufficient amount of sunlight.
4. Not being able to convert vitamin D into active form by liver and kidney.
5. Changes and absorption of vitamin D are affected by the intake of medicines taken for the improvement of other diseases.

Some people are very much at risk of vitamin D deficiency like-

1. People with gastric bypass surgery.
2. Osteoporosis or bone-related patients.
3. People with kidney and liver disease for a long time.
4. The risk of vitamin D deficiency is high in a breastfed infant because mother's milk is not a potent source of vitamin D.
5. Children under 5 years of age are more prone to vitamin D deficiency.
6. People with obesity are affected by vitamin D fat, due to which vitamin D has difficulty in entering the blood.
7. People with a large thyroid or hyper thyroid patients.
8. TV patients.
9. Cancer patients such as lymphoma.
10. In comparison to the white people, the dark people are able to reduce the production of vitamin D from the rays of the sun.
11. Elderly people over 65 years of age are at higher risk of vitamin D deficiency.
    
    

Diagnosis of vitamin D deficiency 

Vitamin D deficiency is tested by a doctor. Doctors detect vitamin D deficiency through symptoms, habit and previous medical information.

1. You may have to undergo vitamin D test if there is a possibility of vitamin D deficiency.
2. Vitamin D test is a type of blood test through which the vitamin D star is detected in your blood. This test is done when you are at risk of osteoporosis.
3. The best time to get vitamin D test is at the end of winter or in the beginning of spring because the level of vitamin D in your body is very low in both these seasons.
4. 20ng/mL to 50ng/mL is considered sufficient for healthy individuals but a level of less than 12 ng/mL indicates lack of vitamin D in the body.

Prevention of vitamin D deficiency 

Eating vitamin D rich foods and consuming 15 to 20 minutes daily is the best way to overcome vitamin D deficiency. Spending some time in sunlight every day reduces the chances of vitamin D deficiency. Along with sunlight, lifestyle also helps in keeping the body healthy.

1. Keep your weight balanced. Exercise daily and take sunlight or sunlight.
2. If there is a disease related to stomach, liver and kidney, then give medicines to cure them and improve their condition.
3. Use vitamin D supplements. Feed vitamin D supplements especially to lactating newborns.
4. If someone in your family has genetically osteoporosis or vitamin D deficiency, consult your doctor about it.

Sources of vitamin D

Sun rays are the biggest source of vitamin D. Note that only 10 percent of the body gets vitamin D from food while the remaining 90 percent is taken directly from sunlight.

Vitamin D rich foods

Fish is considered the best source of vitamin D.

1. Cod liver oil
2. Salmon
3. Dairy products
4. Orange juice
5. Soya milk
6. Grains etc.

Other sources-

1. Mushroom
2. Eggs
3. Milk
4. Cottage cheese 

Vitamin D deficiency treatment

To overcome vitamin D deficiency, eat more and more vitamin D rich diet. Also eat vitamin D supplements. How much vitamin D should be taken depends on different things like age, how much you work and how strong your digestive system is, so make sure to consult your doctor before eating the medicine. 

If the level of vitamin D in your body is slightly less than normal, then pay attention to these things-

1. Eat more calcium rich foods.
2. Spend more time in sunlight.
3. Do exercise regularly.
4. Eat vitamin d supplements.

If the level of vitamin D in your body is very low, then you should pay attention to the following activities like-

1. Taking more and more milk.
2. Eat vitamin D rich foods.
3. Eat vitamin D supplements.
4. Get vitamin D injections done.
5. Take vitamin D in tablets or liquid form.

Also read: Silent Heart Attack (SMI)

Vitamin D deficiency disease

Many types of diseases can occur if the level of vitamin D in the blood decreases for a long time -

Sterility

1. Asthma in children
2. Cancer 
3. Increased risk of death due to heart disease
4. Brain failure in older adults
5. Rickets in children
6. Osteomalacia due to vitamin D deficiency in adults

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