Vitamin D is one of many vitamins human bodies need to stay healthy. Traditionally, vitamin D deficiency has been associated with rickets (deformities of bone, such as bow legs and curvature of the spine) and teeth defects. It can cause osteomalacia in adults.
Vitamin D plays important roles in immune function. One of the most common symptoms of a deficiency is an increased risk of illness or infections.
Deficient of vitamin D levels resulting reduced calcium absorption, to only 10 to 15 percent of dietary calcium, and less than 50 percent absorption of dietary phosphorus. As a result, the protein scaffold made by osteoblasts can’t be mineralized. Vitamin D, along with calcium, helps build bones and keep bones strong and healthy. Weak bones can lead to osteoporosis, the loss of bone density, which can lead to fractures.
With chronic and/or severe vitamin D deficiency, a decline in intestinal calcium and phosphorus absorption leads to hypocalcemia leading to secondary hyperparathyroidism.
There was a hypothesis that vitamin D deficiency may increase the risk of prostate cancer, based on the finding that mortality rates of this cancer in the United States were inversely proportional to ultraviolet radiation.
Several studies have shown a link between a deficiency and respiratory tract infections such as colds, bronchitis, and pneumonia.
Scientist also are looking for ways vitamin D and its derivatives might treat other conditions of abnormal cell growth, such as psoriasis and cancers of the blood, lung and cervix.
Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to increased risk for cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes.
Diseases associated with Vitamin D deficiency
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| Salmon - rich source with Vitamin D |
