Things to Know About Vitamin D Deficiency in Vacaville

If you are staying away from the sun, stick to a strict vegan diet, or suffer from milk allergies, there's no doubt that you'll be at risk for vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is produced by the body when the skin is exposed to sunlight. This is the reason why it has been dubbed as the "sunshine vitamin". Apart from the sun, you can also get vitamin D from certain foods such as fish, egg yolks, and fish liver oils as well as fortified dairy and grain products.

Vitamin D is essential for strong and healthy bones because it helps the body use calcium from your food intake. This is the reason why being vitamin D deficient in Vacaville, can cause rickets thus leading to skeletal deformities and soft bones. But apart from that, vitamin D also plays a vital role in protecting the body from all sorts of health problems.

Symptoms and health risks of vitamin D deficiency in Vacaville

If you have bone pain and muscle weakness, it could be a sign that you have vitamin D deficiency. However, these symptoms are subtle for some people. Even without symptoms, having little amount of vitamin D in your system can pose health risks. This deficiency has been associated with the following:

• Cancer
• Severe asthma in children
• Cognitive impairment in older adults
• Increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease

According to research, vitamin D plays a vital role in the prevention and treatment of several conditions such as hypertension, glucose intolerance, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Causes of vitamin D deficiency

There are several reasons why vitamin D deficiency can happen to a person. This includes:

• You have dark skin - The pigment melanin reduces your skin's ability to absorb sunlight and produce vitamin D. Older adults with darker skin are even more at risk of vitamin D deficiency.
• You have limited sun exposure - Since sunlight is important in the production of vitamin D in your body, being less exposed to it can put you at risk. This is the case for people who are homebound, working in an environment with less sun exposure, living in northern latitudes, or wearing long robes or head coverings for religious reasons.
• You don't take the recommended levels of vitamin D - If you are on a strict vegan diet, this could put you at risk of vitamin D deficiency. Natural sources of this vitamin mostly come from animal-based products such as fish, beef liver, egg yolks, fish oils, and fortified milk.
• You are obese - Vitamin D is extracted from the blood by fat cells, changing its release into the circulation. If you have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher then you have low blood levels of vitamin D.
• Your kidneys are unable to convert vitamin D - As you age, your kidneys are less likely to convert vitamin D into its active form, which could put you at risk of a deficiency.
• Your digestive tract can't properly absorb vitamin D - There are medical problems like celiac disease, cystic fibrosis, and Crohn's disease that can affect the ability of your intestine to properly absorb vitamin D from food sources.

If you don't spend too much time in the sun or you're not eating the right kind of foods, you can ask your doctor about taking vitamin D supplements. It is important to avoid such deficiency to prevent such health risks from happening to you.