7 Signs of a Vitamin D Deficiency

It is estimated that more than 75% of the world's population is Vitamin D deficient, and most of them don't even know it!  Vitamin D deficiencies are also extremely common in the US, but many Americans mistakenly believe they aren’t at risk because they consume vitamin-D-fortified foods, such as milk. There are very few foods that actually have therapeutic levels of vitamin D and even fortified foods do not contain enough vitamin D to bring you to a healthy level.

Despite its name, vitamin D is not actually a regular vitamin. It is a steroid hormone that you are designed to obtain primarily through sun exposure, not through your diet.

How Widespread Is Vitamin D Deficiency?

Before the year 2000, very few doctors ever considered the possibility that you might be vitamin D deficient.

As the technology to measure vitamin D became affordable and widely available, more and more testing has been done.  It became increasingly clear that vitamin D deficiency is absolutely rampant.

According to one of the leading vitamin D researchers, Dr. Michael Holick:

·  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 32% of children and adults throughout the US were vitamin D deficient.  This percentage is grossly underestimated as they used vitamin D levels that were not consistent with optimal health.

·  The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that 50% of children aged one to five years, and 70% of children between the ages of 6 and 11, are deficient or insufficient in vitamin D.

·  Researchers such as Dr. Holick estimate that 50% of the general population is at risk of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency

Researchers have also noted that vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in adults of all ages who always wear sun protection, which blocks vitamin D production, or limit their outdoor activities.  

It’s estimated that over 95% of US senior citizens may be deficient in vitamin D, not only because they tend to spend a lot of time indoors but also because they produce less in response to sun exposure.  A person over the age of 70 produces about 30% less vitamin D than a younger person with the same sun exposure.

7 Signs You May Be Vitamin D Deficient

The only way to know for sure if you’re vitamin D deficient is by blood testing. There are some signs and symptoms to be aware of as well. If any of the following apply to you, you should get your vitamin D levels tested sooner rather than later.

1. You Have Darker Skin - African Americans are at greater risk of vitamin D deficiency, because if you have dark skin, you may need as much as 10 times more sun exposure to produce the same amount of vitamin D as a person with pale skin!

As Dr. Holick explained, your skin pigment acts as a natural sunscreen, so the more pigment you have, the more time you’ll need to spend in the sun to make adequate amounts of vitamin D.

2. You Feel “Blue”- Serotonin, the brain hormone associated with mood elevation, rises with exposure to bright light and falls with decreased sun exposure. In 2006, scientists evaluated the effects of vitamin D on the mental health of 80 elderly patients and found those with the lowest levels of vitamin D were 11 times more prone to be depressed than those who received healthy doses.

3. You’re 50 or Older - As mentioned, as you get older your skin doesn’t make as much vitamin D in response to sun exposure. At the same time, your kidneys become less efficient at converting vitamin D into the form used by your body and older adults tend to spend more time indoors (i.e. getting even less sun exposure and therefore vitamin D).

4. You’re Overweight or Obese (or Have a Higher Muscle Mass) - Vitamin D is a fat-soluble, hormone-like vitamin, which means body fat acts as a "sink" by collecting it. If you're overweight or obese, you're therefore likely going to need more vitamin D than a slimmer person -- and the same holds true for people with higher body weights due to muscle mass.

5. Your Bones Ache - According to Dr. Holick, many who see their doctor for aches and pains, especially in combination with fatigue, end up being misdiagnosed as having fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome.

6. Head Sweating - According to Dr. Holick, one of the first, classic signs of vitamin D deficiency is a sweaty head. In fact, physicians used to ask new mothers about head sweating in their newborns for this very reason. Excessive sweating in newborns due to neuromuscular irritability is still described as a common, early symptom of vitamin D deficiency.

7. You Have Gut Trouble - Remember, vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means if you have a gastrointestinal condition that affects your ability to absorb fat, you may have lower absorption of fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin D as well. This includes gut conditions like Crohn’s, celiac and non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Researchers have pointed out that increasing levels of vitamin D3 among the general population could prevent chronic diseases that claim nearly one million lives throughout the world each year. Incidence of several types of cancer could also be slashed in half.

Vitamin D also fights infections, including colds and the flu, as it regulates the expression of genes that influence your immune system to attack and destroy bacteria and viruses.

Optimizing your vitamin D levels can help protect against:

1.  Cardiovascular disease.  

2.  Autoimmune diseases

3.  Infections, including influenza

4.  DNA repair and metabolic processes 

When it comes to vitamin D, you don't want to be in the "average" or "normal" range, you want to be in the "optimal" range. The reason for this is that as the years have gone by, researchers have progressively moved that range upward. At present, based on the evaluation of healthy populations that get plenty of natural sun exposure, the optimal range for general health appears to be somewhere between 50 and 70 ng/ml.

For More Information:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/28/vitamin-d-deficiency-signs-symptoms.as...