Vitamin D Deficiency causes

Vitamin d deficiency causes
- If You don't consume the recommended levels of the vitamin over time.
- If you follow a strict vegetarian diet, because most of the natural sources are animal-based, including fish and fish oils, egg yolks, cheese, and beef liver.
-If You are obese. Vitamin D is extracted from the blood by fat cells, altering its release into the circulation. People with a body mass index of 30 or greater often have low blood levels of vitamin D.
- If Your exposure to sunlight is limited. Because the body makes vitamin D when your skin is exposed to sunlight, you may be at risk of deficiency if you are homebound, live in northern latitudes...
- If Your digestive tract cannot adequately absorb vitamin D. Certain medical problems, including Crohn's disease, cystic fibrosis, and celiac disease, can affect your intestine's ability to absorb vitamin D from the food you eat.
- If You have dark skin. The pigment melanin reduces the skin's ability to make vitamin D in response to sunlight exposure. Some studies show that older adults with darker skin are at high risk of vitamin D deficiency.
- If Your kidneys cannot convert vitamin D to its active form. As people age their kidneys are less able to convert vitamin D to its active form, thus increasing their risk of vitamin D deficiency.

Effects of vitamin d deficiency

Without sufficient vitamin D, bones can become thin, brittle, or misshapen. Deficiency can arise from inadequate intake coupled with inadequate sunlight exposure; disorders that limit its absorption; conditions that impair conversion of vitamin D into active metabolites, such as liver or kidney disorders; or, rarely, by a number of hereditary disorders.

Vitamin D deficiency results in impaired bone mineralization and leads to bone softening diseases, rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults, and possibly contributes to osteoporosis.

External links:
Sciencedaily:Vitamin D deficiency