Why vitamin D intake is important in your daily diet!

Vitamin D, also called calciferol, is a fat-soluble vitamin that is endogenously produced when ultraviolet rays, also known as UV rays from sunlight, strike the skin. It is also present in certain food items and also available as dietary supplements. Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption and is also needed for bone growth and bone remodeling. When Vitamin D intake becomes insufficient, bones can become thin, brittle, or misshapen.

Why is Vitamin D important in your diet?

Our body needs vitamin D. Its job is to help the body absorb calcium from the intestines. This calcium is necessary to help “mineralize the skeleton” throughout your lifetime and is a critical mineral for forming the hardened bone that keeps you strong and healthy. They are needed to keep bones, teeth, and muscles healthy. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to bone deformities and bone pain caused by osteomalacia in adults.

A diet providing Vitamin D

Fatty fish such as salmon or tuna are good sources of Vitamin D.Dairy products, especially milk breakfast cereals and milk, are enriched in Vitamin D.Another and important source providing Vitamin D is the sunlight. The ultraviolet rays are necessary to produce Vitamin D naturally. Because sunshine is necessary to ensure adequate vitamin D levels, people who have low sun exposure as a result of their lifestyle or due to the availability of sunlight where they live are at an increased risk of developing vitamin D deficiency.

What causes vitamin D to drop?

A deficiency in vitamin D can result from inadequate exposure to sunlight, inefficient production in the skin, not enough vitamin D in your diet, and health conditions that can affect it including, gastrointestinal disorders, renal diseases, and liver diseases.

What happens if vitamin D deficiency is not treated?

If left untreated over time, vitamin D deficiency can lead to serious bone disorders. It also causes anxiety, depression.

Vitamin D deficiency symptoms

Vitamin D deficiency occurs when the intake of Vitamin D is lower than the required level in a balanced diet. Vitamin D deficiency is mostly found in lactose-intolerant people or people who consume a vegan diet. Severe lack of Vitamin D causes rickets seen in children as incorrect growth patterns, weakness in muscles, pain in bones, and deformities in joints. Children who have Vitamin D deficiency can also have sore muscles or weakness and painful muscles. Other signs include:

1. Fatigue
2. Bone pain
3. Muscle weakness, muscle aches, or muscle cramps.
4. Mood changes, like depression, schizophrenia, anxiety.

How to manage your Vitamin D intake?

To maintain an adequate vitamin D level in the body, you might consider eating more foods that contain vitamin D and getting a little bit of sunlight; you will likely be told to take vitamin D supplements.

Vitamin D comes in two forms. D2 and D3. D2, also called ergocalciferol, comes from plants. D3, also called cholecalciferol, comes from animals. You need a prescription to get D2. D3, however, is available over the counter.  

How long does it take to correct a vitamin D deficiency?

Simply adding an over-the-counter vitamin D supplement can make improvements in just three to four months.