Introduction
Vitamin D deficiency is now a well-known problem that affects almost everybody. Various age groups and demographics are at greater risk of this deficiency, yet many people are still unaware of it and do not pay much attention to the levels of this vitamin in their bodies.
Overall, in this article I will focus on the common symptoms of a vitamin D deficiency and how to make sure you have enough of it. Next, the dangers of low and high levels of vitamin D will be described and why this nutrient is crucial for you.
Firstly, a vitamin D deficiency can vary highly depending on age and gender. Nevertheless, there are some common symptoms that can indicate the condition, such as a low energy level, bone pain, muscle weakness and a bad mood. A personal experience I had during a period of absence of sunlight in my home country was a transition towards a more irritable personality, as my body lacked sunlight and vitamin D. We will also delve into some facts about the physiological benefits of vitamin D.
The Right Amount of Vitamin D
To avoid problems, it is important to make sure you have enough vitamin D. On the downside, both low and high levels of this vitamin can be dangerous to your health. Vitamin D is an important substance that is vital for your body to function effectively. However, deficiency in this nutrient can trigger various conditions like rickets and bone fractures as well as risk osteomalacia (non-inflammatory bone softening). On the other side, an excess of vitamin D can cause an overload of calcium in the blood that leads to nausea and vomiting. High and low levels of vitamin D are extremely dangerous for your body and can lead to a wide range of chronic conditions. Certain factors like age, gender and ethnicity can affect the risks of vitamin D deficiency, this condition is now a very common issue that can be a problem for almost everybody.
What are the Common Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency?
By being able to recognize the symptoms of vitamin D-deficiency – such as fatigue, muscle weakness, bone pain and lower mood – it will be easier to ensure treatment is administered sooner rather than later. Low vitamin D has effects not just on musculoskeletal health but on immune function and mental health. Less well-known are the effects of vitamin D deficiency on surrounding tissues. Perhaps the most devastating effect is on the bone, where lack of vitamin D causes a condition called osteomalacia in adults and rickets in children.
How Can You Get Enough Vitamin D?
If you are looking to increase your vitamin intake through your food sources, some excellent sources include fatty fish like salmon, tuna, and sardines. Also, dairy products that have added vitamin D, like milk and some yogurts are good choices. Egg yolks are another great source of vitamin D, but remember the nutrient is also produced by human skin when sunlight strikes our body. Of course, one needs to strike a balance between taking enough time in the sun to help the body produce vitamin D while avoiding skin damage due to too much sunlight. If increasing the amount of food sources containing vitamin D and sunlight as a method of helping the body to produce vitamin D is not enough, perhaps looking at taking supplements can help to ensure that you meet the recommended daily intake.
What Are the Risks Associated with Too Much Vitamin D?
It’s crucial to realize that in cases of overdosing with vitamins, you can acquire vitamin D toxicity. This may be accompanied by hypercalcemia, which causes an increase in the blood calcium levels. Owing to the high prevalence of overdosing within the population, there are many individuals who are also at risk to experience the serious health hazards associated with vitamins overdosing: increased thirst, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, stomach upset, constipation, irregular heartbeat, dry mouth, excessive urination, and kidney problems. It is for this reason that, when beginning to take a vitamin D supplement in larger doses, it is important to adhere to the recommended daily dosage taken by most patients or individuals.
Essential Micronutrients
Vitamins are essential, and they function as nutrients. Vitamins are crucial – to this day, we have almost a billion people globally who are deficient. A paper about synergy volume has had 48 people cite in the past century, thousands of papers produced results showing that any one of the vitamins discovered contributed to your overall wellbeing. Today’s nutritionists and practitioners know the most important trait of nearly any and every vitamin, essential micronutrient we need for key biochemical reactions. Vitamins don’t work alone. They don’t act like free radicals, they synergize, they co-operate. Most famous vitamin is probably the Vitamin D soaking up the sun. It is probably best known for its benefit of making bones and muscles. However, benefits are numerous, and it would be beneficial to discuss the many benefits brought about by Vitamin D.
Vitamin D: Insight
Vitamin D is made naturally in our own bodies by exposure to sunlight (or ultimately UV radiation). This vitamin is present in fattier foods such as oily fish, cheese, and eggs, or taken in supplements. Unlike most vitamins, Vitamin D behaves more like a hormone. This seems to be so since most cells in our bodies contain its receptor. Like other hormones, direct sunlight is absorbed by the skin to stimulate vitamin D synthesis from cholesterol. Cholesterol that is present in the skin (keratinocytes) absorbs the UVB rays from the Sun to allow synthesis of vitamin D.
Strengthens Bones and Muscles
Vitamin D facilitates the proper utilization of calcium and phosphorus, minerals without which our bones would be weak, brittle, and deformed. The same happens to our muscles, which can also lack strength and resistance and become atrophied. The evidence shows that vitamin D is effective in improving exercise performance and preserving muscle power, flexibility, and acts as an anti-inflammatory drug.
Boosts Immunity
Another powerful immunity booster is vitamin D, which in turn boosts the body’s global immune response. Vitamin D opposes the process by which the immune system can be either sickly or hyperactive, a state that can lead to full-blown autoimmunity (the immune system mistakenly mounting an attack against the body itself). Vitamin D also accelerates the activity of immune cells such as T-cells, which can hunt down invading infections. On the other hand, if vitamin D levels are low, the overall immune response becomes hobbled and one’s susceptibility to infections – including the common cold – and disease increases.
Why is Vitamin D Important for Your Health?
Experimental studies point to the relationship between vitamin D and diabetes showing that one of its roles appears to regulate normal blood sugar levels. Vitamin D also appears to support mood and mental wellbeing. Obviously, it is important to maintain bone health – without it, calcium is not properly absorbed and may even be excreted, which leads to a greater risk of fractures and osteoporosis.
How to Ensure Adequate Intake?
Regular testing is important because it allows doctors and patients to monitor vitamin D status and up supplements when necessary; the recommended daily allowance of vitamin D is usually in the range of 600-800 international units (IU) or 15-20 micrograms (mcg). The main factors that affect how much vitamin D a person can absorb are age, skin color, and gastrointestinal health.
Conclusion
In summary, Vitamin D is a critically important nutrient our body needs to help perform many important functions. It strengthens our protective skeleton, preventing falls and fractures; it deeply nourishes our eyes, helps make red cells in our blood, helps keep our muscles healthy and our breathing passages clear – facilitating the foundation of health itself.
Note: Before you began taking a vitamin D regimen, take our nutrigenomics test to make sure your defenciency is identified by a root cause analysis. Vitamin D could be one cause but there maybe others. The body is a complex connected system, and the best way to identify the problem or problems are to recognize which genes are being expressed that are causing issues in your daily health. Click here to begin your journey!