Vitamin D deficiency — when the level of vitamin D in your body is too low — can cause your bones to become thin, brittle or misshapen. Vitamin D also appears to play a role in insulin production and immune function — and how this relates to chronic disease prevention and cancer — but this is still being investigated.
Left untreated, vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis in adults, rickets in children and adverse outcomes in pregnant women. It may also be linked to heart disease, diabetes and cancer — although more study is needed on the topic.
When vitamin D levels are low and the body isn't able to properly absorb calcium and phosphorus, there is an increased risk of bone pain, bone fractures, muscle pain and muscle weakness. In older adults, severe vitamin D deficiency (levels less than 10 ng/mL) may also contribute to an increased risk of falls.
For example, severe and long-term vitamin D deficiency may result in rickets or osteomalacia. Both disorders are characterized by softening and weakening of the bones that can increase the likelihood of broken bones and lead to skeletal deformities.
Symptoms when vitamin D is low
Fatigue. Not sleeping well. Bone pain or achiness. Depression or feelings of sadness.
How Much Vitamin D Do I Need Per Day? Besides going outdoors in the sunshine, there are two others ways to improve the amount of vitamin D in your system: eating foods rich in vitamin D and supplements. “Adding an over-the-counter vitamin D supplement can make improvements in just three to four months time.
Our bodies produce active vitamin D after exposure to sunlight, and we get some vitamin D from food. Vitamin D is also a hormone. Hormones help control how cells and organs function. However, we do not call vitamin D “hormone D” because without it we cannot live.
The most serious complications of vitamin D deficiency include: Low blood calcium levels (hypocalcemia). Low blood phosphate levels (hypophosphatemia). Rickets (softening of bones during childhood).
Having inadequate levels of vitamin D may correlate with unintentional weight gain. A study on women over the age of 65 found that participants with a lower vitamin D level experienced more weight gain. A systematic review of 23 different studies found similar associations between vitamin D deficiency and obesity.
Low serum vitamin D has been found to be associated with various types of metabolic illness such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, insulin resistance, cardiovascular diseases including hypertension. Various studies reported that vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency in linked with metabolic syndrome risk.
Besides boosting mood and promoting calcium absorption, recent studies have shown that vitamin D may also aid in weight loss. For people with extra belly fat, a vitamin D supplement may be beneficial.
Definition of vitamin D deficiency
A cutoff of <25 or <30 nmol/L (or 10/12 ng/ml) increases the risk of osteomalacia and nutritional rickets dramatically, and therefore is considered to determine severe vitamin D deficiency [13,14,15,16].
Growing evidence has demonstrated that vitamin D has a role in sleep regulation [12]. Specifically, vitamin D deficiency (VDD) can increase risk of sleep disorders and is associated with sleep difficulties, shorter sleep duration, and nocturnal awakenings in children and adults [13,14,15].
Can Vitamin D Deficiency Cause Hair Loss? Vitamin D is metabolized in the skin by keratinocytes. These are skin cells that process keratin, a protein in hair, nails, and skin. When the body doesn't have enough vitamin D, keratinocytes in hair follicles have trouble regulating hair growth and shedding.
Oranges are one of the fruits rich in Vitamin D as its juice is fortified with calcium & vitamin D. This is one of the best sources of vitamin D for people who are lactose intolerant and cannot include milk & dairy products in their diet.
As summarized in Figure 1, vitamin D deficiency has been mechanistically and clinically linked to neurological diseases and neuropsychological disorders, cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative diseases [20,29,30,31,32,33,34].
We recommend taking it with a source of quality fat in the morning or when you break your fast. Avoid taking vitamin D in the evening (we'll talk about why below). Since vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin—meaning it doesn't dissolve in water—your body can most easily absorb it when you take it with food.
When you don't have enough vitamin D, you feel hungry all the time, no matter how much you eat. That is because low levels of vitamin D interfere with the effectiveness of leptin, the appetite hormone that tells you when you are full.
According to 2021 research, vitamin D has been shown to have a powerful anti-inflammatory effect, and deficiencies in this nutrient may contribute to chronic inflammation.
Furthermore, Vitamin D deficiency leads to dysbiosis of gut microbiome and reported to cause severe colitis.
Too much or too little of necessary nutrients, such as vitamin D, can cause significant health problems. That being said, when you intake excess or toxic levels of vitamin D, you may experience constipation, in addition to other digestive problems, loss of appetite, and muscle weakness.
The symptoms of vitamin D deficiency are often subtle, so many people don't know they're deficient. Some of the effects of vitamin D deficiency include: Fatigue or tiredness. Bone pain.
Some factors that may reduce or block its absorption include: Conditions such as celiac disease, chronic pancreatitis, Crohn's disease, and cystic fibrosis. These can all affect the intestines, preventing them from absorbing vitamin D found in food.