Vitamin D is a very important vitamin which has powerful effects on a number of different systems throughout your body. As opposed to other vitamins, vitamin D acts like a hormone. Each and every single cell that is in your body has a receptor for it.
Your body makes vitamin D from cholesterol when your skin has been exposed to sunlight. In addition, it’s found in a variety of foods such as fatty fish as well as fortified dairy products, although it’s very difficult to get enough from just diet.
The recommended daily intake (RDI) of vitamin D is usually around 400–800 IU however many experts say you should get even more than this. A vitamin D deficiency is quite common. It’s estimated that about 1 billion people worldwide have low levels of the vitamin in their blood.
Good For Strong Bones
Vitamin D is tremendously important for strong bones as it helps the body to utilise calcium from the diet. Usually, vitamin D shortage has been linked with rickets, which is a disease in which the bone tissue doesn’t mineralise properly. This leads to soft bones as well as skeletal deformities. However, increasingly research is revealing the importance of vitamin D in protecting against a host of health problems.
How Would You Know If You Have A Vitamin D Deficiency?
Symptoms of bone pain and muscle weakness may mean that you have a vitamin D deficiency. However, for many individuals the symptoms are subtle. However, even without symptoms far too little vitamin D could pose health risks. Low blood levels of the vitamin have been linked with the following results:
- Heightened risk of death from cardiovascular disease
- Cognitive deficiency in older adults
- Serious asthma in children
- Cancer
Research makes the suggestion that vitamin D may play a role in the prevention as well as treatment of a number of different conditions, including type1 and type 2 diabetes, hypertension, glucose intolerance as well as multiple sclerosis.
Here are seven shared risk factors for vitamin D deficiency:
- Having dark skin
- Being elderly
- Being overweight or obese
- Not eating much fish or – alternatively – dairy
- Living very far away from the equator where there is extremely little sun year-round
- Always utilising sunscreen when going out
- Remaining indoors
Individuals who live near the equator – and get regular sun exposure – are less likely to be deficient, as their skin generates enough vitamin D in order to satisfy their bodies’ needs.
Most individuals don’t realise that they’re deficient because symptoms are usually subtle. You may not recognise them clearly, even if they’re having a substantial negative effect on your quality of life.
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