Vit D Deficiency Symptoms
Vitamins are the organic compounds that help in performing the biological functions in a living organism. It is a vital nutrient which should be included in your daily diet in the required quantity. Vitamins are referred to as the organic compounds since our body cannot synthesize them and they need to be taken from external sources.
Vitamin D is an essential nutrient which is responsible for your stronger bones and teeth. Generally, the exposure to the sun triggers the production of vitamin D in your body. Apart from this, vitamin D can be obtained also from the red meat, egg yolk and fatty fish such as tuna and mackerel. Vitamin D is generally available in two different forms which are vitamin D2 and vitamin D3. Lower levels of vitamin D3 can have drastic impacts on human health and are abundantly found in the skin of animals. When compared to the other vitamins, vitamin D3 has a greater effect on the health of the bone, insulin control, lower blood pressure, prevention of cancer, etc. Vit D deficiency symptoms start to show when there is an imbalance in the levels of the vitamin in your body.
Vitamin D deficiency diseases arise and show low vitamin D symptoms when the body does not get enough of the vitamin. This can be either due to the lack of vitamin D in the diet, not getting the needed sunlight or even having a dark skin. In this article, we will learn about the vitamin D deficiency symptoms which include the vitamin D deficiency symptoms in men, the vitamin D deficiency symptoms in women, and the vitamin D deficiency in babies symptoms.
Deficiency of Vitamin D Symptoms
Let us learn about the vitamin D3 deficiency symptoms in detail and take a look at what they are.
Previously, vitamin D deficiency had been linked to a disease known as rickets, which is a bone disorder. This condition has a tendency to severely compromise the structural integrity of the bone and eventually leads to fractures. Apart from this disease rickets, vitamin D deficiency also leads to a host of several other diseases and disorders like asthma, several other lung diseases and a plethora of cardiovascular diseases.
Common Vitamin D Deficiency Symptoms Include:
Hair loss
Fatigue
Back pain
Bone pain
Slow-healing wounds
Frequent infections
Cramps and muscle pain
Weakness in the muscles
Muscle aches, or muscle cramps
Mood changes or mood swings
You learned about the vitamin D deficiency symptoms in adults, let us look at what are the benefits of vitamin D in the body.
Benefits of Vitamin D
Vitamin D has several roles in the human body. It helps in the following way:
Supports your immune, brain, and nervous system health
Promotes healthy bones and teeth
Regulates the insulin levels and helps in supporting the diabetes management
Supports the lung function and cardiovascular health
Influences the expression of genes that are involved in cancer development
Causes of Vitamin D Deficiency
People can become vitamin D deficient for several reasons:
They don't get enough vitamin D in their diet
They don't absorb enough vitamin D from their food which is a malabsorption problem
They don't get proper exposure to sunlight
Their liver or kidneys are not able to convert vitamin D to its active form in their body
They take medicines which interfere with their body's ability for converting or absorbing vitamin D
Test for the Vitamin D Deficiency
If you notice vitamin D3 deficiency symptoms you must go for a checkup and get a test to confirm the deficiency. The most accurate way for measuring how much vitamin D is in your body is by the 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood test. The level of 20 nanograms/millilitre - 50 ng/mL is said to be adequate for healthy people. A level of less than 12 ng/mL indicates that there is a vitamin D deficiency.
FAQs on Vitamin D Deficiency Symptoms
1. What problems does vitamin D deficiency cause?
Vitamin D deficiency can lead to the loss of bone density, which can contribute to osteoporosis and fractures or broken bones.
Severe vitamin D deficiency might also lead to several other diseases. In children, it might cause rickets. Rickets is a type of rare disease which causes the bones to become soft and bend. In adults, severe vitamin D deficiency also leads to a condition called osteomalacia. Osteomalacia causes weaker bones, bone pain, and weakness in muscles.
2. How to get more vitamin D?
There are several vitamin D deficiency signs and symptoms that can be prevented when you get enough vitamin D on a daily basis. If you notice any sorts of lack of vitamin D symptoms, it is time to take measures and increase the vitamin D content in your body. You can do so in the following ways.
There are some foods which naturally have some vitamin D content. These are:
Fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, and tuna
Beef liver
Mushrooms
Cheese
Egg yolks
You can also get enough vitamin D from different fortified foods. You can take a look at the food labels and find out whether that food has vitamin D.
Foods that often have the added vitamin D content include the following:
Milk
Breakfast cereals
Other dairy products, like yoghurt
Soy drinks
Orange juice
3. Is too much vitamin D harmful?
Getting too much vitamin D which is known as vitamin D toxicity can be extremely harmful. Signs of vitamin D toxicity include vomiting, nausea, poor appetite, weakness, constipation, and weight loss. Excess of vitamin D can also damage your kidneys. Too much of vitamin D also increases the levels of calcium in your bloodstream. Higher levels of blood calcium, also known as hypercalcemia can also cause disorientation, confusion, and problems with your heart rhythm.
Most of the cases of vitamin D toxicity happen when you overuse the vitamin D supplements. Excessive sun exposure does not cause vitamin D poisoning since your body limits the amount of the vitamin D it produces.
