In adults, severe vitamin D deficiency leads to osteomalacia. Osteomalacia causes weak bones, bone pain, and muscle weakness.
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.
Vitamin D deficiencies can also result in bone diseases such as rickets in children and osteomalacia and osteoporosis in adults. But you may not be aware that if you're not getting enough vitamin D, you may also suffer from dizziness, headaches, and yes, low energy and fatigue.
The Importance of Vitamin D
Brittle bones: Many women with Vitamin D deficiency are at an increased risk of osteoporosis and fractures due to weak or brittle bones. Estrogen imbalance: Vitamin D deficiency may lead to lowered estrogen levels, which can cause depression, hot flashes, mood swings and more.
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.
Vitamin D deficiency is most commonly caused by a lack of exposure to sunlight. Some disorders can also cause the deficiency. The most common cause is lack of exposure to sunlight, usually when the diet is deficient in vitamin D, but certain disorders can also cause the deficiency.
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].
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.
Vitamin D deficiency is significantly associated with lumbar disc degeneration and low back pain among postmenopausal women, according to research from Menopause.
While the best timing has not been established, scientific data to confirm anecdotal reports that supplementing at night may interfere with sleep is unavailable. Current research suggests you can fit vitamin D into your routine whenever you prefer.
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.
Research shows that a lack of vitamin D in your body can lead to hair loss. One role vitamin D plays is stimulating new and old hair follicles. When there isn't enough vitamin D in your system, new hair growth can be stunted.
Therefore, conditions that affect the gut and digestion, like celiac disease, chronic pancreatitis, Crohn's disease, and cystic fibrosis, can reduce vitamin D absorption.
Dean. "Adequate levels of magnesium in the body are essential for the absorption and metabolism not only of vitamin D but of calcium as well," Dean states. "Magnesium converts vitamin D into its active form so that it can help calcium absorption.
Decreased vitamin D levels have been associated with anxiety, depression and schizophrenia,23–27 with low levels of vitamin D in neonates associated with a two-fold increased risk of developing schizophrenia later in life.
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.
After taking a high dose of vitamin D3, a study showed it can take approximately seven days for it to convert and cause a peak in 25(OH)D levels, the form tested by your doctor.
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.
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.
Therefore, conditions that affect the gut and digestion, like celiac disease, chronic pancreatitis, Crohn's disease, and cystic fibrosis, can reduce vitamin D absorption.
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].