You will be surprised to know how common it is to find a person with vitamin D deficiency. In US alone, around 41% of adults have vitamin D deficiency, in accordance to a 2011 study. In fact, the estimate of worldwide count stands at approximately 1 billion.
What is Vitamin D?
Vitamin D acts as a hormone which carries messages to every cell in your body to coordinate its functions. One of the key roles of vitamin D is to regulate calcium absorption. Hence, it is essential to maintaining the health of your teeth and bones. Vitamin D is also crucial to the normal activities of your immune system.
Our body produces vitamin D from cholesterol when our skin receives sunlight. As a matter of fact, a mere 15 minutes of unobstructed exposure to sunlight daily, which also means without sunscreen, will allow your body to produce sufficient vitamin D.
If you are not located near the equator and do not receive sufficient sun exposure, you are at risk of vitamin D deficiency. This risk increases if you are an elderly, are overweight or lack consumption of dairy or fish.
In general, symptoms of vitamin D deficiency are mild which is why many do not know that they are deficient. However, it can have an impact in your quality of life. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to various health conditions such as dementia, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, diabetes and fibromyalgia.
Here are the common signs and symptom of vitamin D deficiency you should know.
