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Signs of Vitamin D deficiency

Caused by severe deficiency Vitamin D has many serious diseases, especially for children, such as rickets, in addition to general weakness associated with musculoskeletal pain with joint abnormalities, but it is considered a rare condition, but the symptoms of vitamin D deficiency in adults may include the following signs and symptoms:[1]

• Extreme tiredness and general weakness: Of course, there are many reasons that result in the body being tired and feeling weak, and among these reasons is the lack of vitamin D, which causes the body to lose energy and the inability to practice the normal activities that humans do every day.
• slow wound healing: Several studies have confirmed the role of vitamin D in the body, which helps build damaged skin tissues and cells, which speeds wound healing. Therefore, vitamin D deficiency in the body results in slow wound healing.
• Muscle pain: A lack of vitamin D in the body causes muscle and bone pain as well as a result of a lack of calcium, which vitamin D helps the body absorb.
• Back pain: One of the most important signs of vitamin D deficiency in the body is back pain, because vitamin D plays an active role in the body’s absorption of calcium, and its deficiency leads to a deficiency of calcium and exposure to back pain.
• Menstrual disorders: One of the main causes of menstrual disorders and pain is a lack of vitamin D in the body and increased menstrual bleeding.
• hair loss: Among the signs that appear on adults resulting from a lack of vitamin D in the body is exposure to the problem of hair loss.
• Respiratory problems: One of the damages caused by vitamin D deficiency is the risk of respiratory diseases and seasonal diseases such as influenza, colds and colds. It also increases the risk of respiratory viruses and the risk of asthma.

What is Vitamin D deficiency?

Vitamin D deficiency means that the body does not have the natural percentage of vitamin D, the skin secretes vitamin D through exposure to sunlight, as the skin of light people and younger people converts sunlight into vitamin D, and that is much better than people with skin Dark people and older people over 50 years of age.[1]

Watch also: Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency in men

Why is Vitamin D so important?

Vitamin D is one of the vitamins necessary for the health of the body, which it needs to prevent diseases, due to the vital role that vitamin D plays in the human body, and its most important functions are:

• Maintain bone strength: Vitamin D must be present in the body to maintain bone health and prevent the risk of bone diseases, especially rickets, which affects children during the growth stage, because vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium and phosphorous to build bones.
• Calcium absorption: Vitamin D with calcium builds bones and maintains their health, because weak bones, low bone density, osteoporosis, and frequent fractures as a result of a lack of vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium, The body activates vitamin D by converting sunlight or by taking it orally, which enhances the body’s ability to absorb calcium from food.
• Work with the parathyroid glands: The parathyroid glands work to balance the proportion of calcium in the blood by communicating with the internal organs of the body, the kidneys, intestines, and skeleton. The occurrence of a deficiency in the proportion of vitamin D in the body The parathyroid glands obtain the proportion of calcium they need from the skeleton.

What are the health effects of vitamin D deficiency?

Vitamin D is one of the important vitamins for the prevention of many diseases and also helps in the recovery of these diseases from diseases that affect humans as a result of vitamin D deficiency, as follows:[1]

• heart disease;
• Having high blood pressure.
• diabetes.
• infections.
• Immune system disorders.
• Incidence of some types of cancer, such as colon, prostate and breast cancer.
• Infection with so-called multiple sclerosis.

What are the sources of vitamin D?

There are many sources of vitamin D, including:

• Exposure to the sun at specific times, which should be for 20 minutes, three days a week.
• Foods containing vitamin D.
• Nutritional supplements.

Watch also: Diseases caused by vitamin deficiency

What does your diet have to do with getting enough vitamin D?

There is no vitamin D in many of the foods we eat, so it has been added to some foods, and we also find that some people, such as vegetarians and people who suffer from lactose intolerance, do not get the required percentage of the body from vitamin D from food, so they need to take nutritional supplements, as it should Be sure to diversify the intake of food that contains vitamin D, and the following table will show the foods that a person should eat to obtain his need for vitamin D. [1]

What causes vitamin D deficiency?

Vitamin D deficiency can occur as a result of some medical conditions, including the following:[1][2]

• Cystic fibrosis, Crohn’s disease، And gastrointestinal diseases: Because these diseases affect the intestinal absorption of vitamin D.
• Weight loss surgeries: Surgical operations that reduce the size of the stomach and intestines to lose weight, make it difficult for these people to eat the necessary amounts of food to obtain vitamin D.
• Obesity: A BMI greater than 30 indicates a deficiency Vitamin D, as fat cells retain vitamin D that the body gets from food, so the body does not benefit from it, and therefore we find that obese people need to take vitamin D supplements.
• Kidney and liver disease: Having these diseases reduces the levels of enzymes that the body needs to absorb vitamin D.
• Not getting enough vitamin D in the diet.
• The problem of the body’s poor absorption of vitamin D from food.
• No exposure to sunlight.
• Taking some types of medications that hinder the body from absorbing vitamin D.

What other factors can lead to vitamin D deficiency?

• Age: The body’s ability to absorb vitamin D from food decreases with age.
• Mobility: Not being exposed to the sun on a regular basis results in a deficiency of vitamin D in the body, especially for people who live in nursing homes.
• skin colour: People who have dark skin color are more prone to vitamin D deficiency because their skin does not help to activate vitamin D in the body, but on the contrary, people with light skin tone.
• Mother’s milk: Breast milk contains a small percentage of vitamin D, which results in a deficiency of it in infants.

Watch also: When does Vitamin D 50000 start working?

Who is at risk of vitamin D deficiency?

There is a group of people that are more likely to develop a vitamin D deficiency, including the following:[2]

• Babies that are dependent on breastfeeding.
• Elderly
• Dark-skinned people, because their skin is not able to produce much vitamin D.
• People with Crohn’s disease.
• People with celiac disease.
• People who do not get enough fat because the absorption of vitamin D in the body needs a percentage of fat.
• Obese people.
• People who have undergone gastric bypass surgery.
• People with osteoporosis.
• People with kidney or liver disease chronic.
• People with hyperparathyroidism
• People with sarcoidosis, tuberculosis, histoplasmosis, or other granulomatous diseases.
• People with lymphoma
• Cancerous diseases.

Can medications cause vitamin D deficiency?

Some types of medications lower vitamin D levels by: These include:[1]

• laxatives;
• Steroids (eg prednisone).
• Anti-heart attacks.
• antifungals;
• Immunodeficiency drugs.
• Cholesterol-lowering drugs (cholestyramine and colestipol).
• phenobarbital and phenytoin
• Tuberculosis medication (rifampin).
• Weight loss medication (orlistat).

Watch also: Vitamin A and C are necessary to maintain the strength and suppleness of the skin

How is vitamin D deficiency diagnosed?

The doctor resorts to a blood test in case of vitamin D deficiency in the body, where the examination is done through two types of tests, but the selection of 25-hydroxyvitamin D known as 25 (or) D in short is the most common blood test test by drawing the blood using a needle from a vein The test does not require fasting or any kind of prior preparation.

Can You Take Too Much Vitamin D?

Of course, it is possible to obtain a large amount of vitamin D, as the increase in vitamin D does not result in any serious complications, but it may lead to an increase in the proportion of calcium in the blood, causing some symptoms and these symptoms are as follows:

• feelingnausea.
• Feeling of increased thirst and urination.
• Loss and poor appetite.
• Constipation.
• General weakness of the body.
• ataxia (a neurological condition that may cause words to stutter).

Therefore, it is necessary to consult a doctor to determine the dose that the body needs from vitamin D, as sometimes the doctor recommends With higher doses of vitamin D if he’s checking blood levels.

Watch also: What are the symptoms of vitamin A deficiency and what are its causes and symptoms?

How can I help prevent vitamin D deficiency?

The basis of the treatment of vitamin D deficiency is prevention first by obtaining and maintaining the percentage that the body needs of vitamin D and not reducing it or losing it. You may need to follow some of the following guidelines:[1]

• Eat more foods that contain vitamin DYou must eat the two foods as represented in the previous table to obtain the required percentage of vitamin D for the body.
• Sun exposure – but not too much: Where the time required for exposure to the sun is determined according to the deficiency experienced by each case, and the time allowed for exposure to the sun is between 8 to 9 to avoid sun damage, and the duration does not exceed 20 minutes, provided that this is from two to three times a week for the face or The arms, legs or back is all that is needed to absorb an appropriate amount of vitamin D, and there are some cases that need a longer period of exposure to the sun, and these cases are:

• • Older people.
  • Those with darker complexions.
  • People who live in a northern climate.

It is worth noting that excessive exposure to sunlight for more than the time allowed exposes a person to the risk of developing breast cancer.

Vitamin D deficiency in children

Vitamin D deficiency in children results in a risk of exposure to some bone diseases, including scavenging, osteomalacia, fractures and osteoporosis. The recommended daily dose by the (RDA)

• It is 400 international units (10 mcg) for children up to one year of age.
• In adults ages 1 to 40, the RDA is 600 international units (15 micrograms).

Vitamin D deficiency is more common in the United Kingdom due to many reasons, including the prevailing diet in society, lifestyle, weather and northern latitudes, where statistics confirmed that about 16% of children in the United Kingdom have vitamin D deficiency, causing many Symptoms include the following:[3]

• • injury Long bone pain in the lower extremities, where this pain wakes the child from sleep at night.
  • genetic tumor
  • growth retardation;
  • Delayed walking.
  • Muscle aches and pains.
  • weakness.
  • Calcium imbalance: tetany, cardiomyopathy.

Watch also: What is growth hormone and what are the symptoms of deficiency?

How much vitamin D do you need?

The percentage of the body’s need for vitamin D varies according to age, and the following table shows the body’s needs for vitamin D.

At the end of our topic, we hope that we have provided good and useful content about Signs of Vitamin D deficiency What are the methods of prevention and treatment, as well as the foods that a person should get to improve and treat the deficiency of vitamin D levels in the body.