Vitamin D Deficiency

Vitamin D is an essential ingredient for promoting proper absorption of calcium and phosphate, which is necessary for overall enhanced bone health. In addition to this, vitamin D heightens your immune system and helps promotes strength in the muscle tissues. Vitamin D deficiency is on the rise and is becoming an increasingly more common issue, primarily due to a lack of exposure to adequate sunlight. Ironically, if you continually apply sunscreen to protect yourself against harmful UV rays, you are also preventing vitamin D forming! In most cases, you only need 15 to 30 minutes of sunlight to prevent a vitamin D deficiency. by being outside in the early hours of the morning and late afternoon you will give your body what it requires.

There are very few of us that are able to a get a sufficient amount of vitamin D through our diet alone. The symptoms of vitamin D deficiency usually include aching muscles, as well as a weakness and aching in the bones.

Pregnant women with a vitamin D deficiency will pass this deficiency on to their unborn child. One of the first symptoms of a deficiency in infants is muscle spasms, caused by an insufficient amount of calcium, due to malabsorption because of a lack of vitamin D. If you are breastfeeding your child, speak to your physician about vitamin D supplementation and the amount of healthy sunlight exposure for you and your baby. Breastfeeding has wide variety of health benefits for your baby, but mothers breast milk does not contain much vitamin D.

The elderly and people with a darker complexion are at a higher risk for this deficiency. In either case, the requirements for vitamin D increase. Older individuals may have this deficiency because of malabsorption problems. Individuals with darker complexions are not able to form the same amounts of vitamin D when exposed to the sunlight. Both groups would benefit from a blood test that determines the vitamin D levels in their blood. If you find that you are deficient, see your doctor to determine the proper amount of supplementation that you'll need.

Repercussions that can result from a vitamin D deficiency. Your body may decide to compensate for the low levels of calcium in the blood (caused by inadequate levels of vitamin D), by producing excessive amounts of the parathyroid hormone, which will result in a condition known as hyper-parathyroidism. This hormone causes calcium to be drawn out of your bones. If you have osteoporosis, this will make your condition much worse.

There are certain health conditions such as genetic disorders, kidney or liver diseases , as well as some types of medications which can impair your body's ability to properly process vitamin D.

Your body stores Vitamin D in it's liver and metabolizes it through the kidneys into its active, or usable form. Only your doctor can determine the correct dosage for your needs, so do not try to experiment. Effective dosages can range anywhere from 400 – 4000 i.u's daily.

If you think that you may have a vitamin D deficiency, consult with your doctor and have a blood tests performed to determine if this really is the case. Vitamin D3 supplement is what you want because it is the most readily metabolized. Fatty fish (like salmon) are excellent sources of vitamin D3.

It's easy to see that you'll eliminate annoying aches and pains, while at the same time, preventing the development of related health conditions. The good news is that by restoring adequate levels of vitamin D, you wipe out all the problems that are associated with a vitamin D deficiency. It's defiantly worth looking into!