Vitamin D, a fat-soluble vitamin, also called the sunshine vitamin, holds significant importance as a vital nutrient for the body. Vitamin D plays a crucial role in various body functions like improving immunity, maintaining strong skeletal health, regulating hormones, and managing cognitive health.
While sharing his insights, Aman Puri, Founder of Steadfast Nutrition, told Financial Express.com that most prominent role of vitamin D is the absorption of calcium. Both vitamin D and calcium are key components for bone mineralisation, muscle function and overall skeletal health.
“Vitamin D also aids in managing optimum levels of phosphorus in the body. Vitamin D deficiency has become a major health concern nowadays because we tend to spend more and more time indoors, leading to inadequate exposure to sunlight, a crucial factor in vitamin D synthesis. Basic deficiency symptoms include muscle pain, bone pain, muscle spasms, muscle twitches, tiredness and weakening of immune system,” Puri revealed.
Chronic low levels of vitamin D can lead to various health concerns like osteoporosis, bone deformities, and fragile bones, making you more prone to fractures or brittle bones. To prevent such conditions, it is crucial to understand the reasons for vitamin D deficiency in today’s day and age and define a pathway to overcome its deficiency.
Causes of Vitamin D deficiency and ways of correcting them:
- Limited exposure to sunlight and increase in indoor activities: This is one of the prominent reasons behind low levels of vitamin D. The skin requires sun rays to synthesise and activate vitamin D, but lifestyle changes have restricted outdoor activities. Increased indoor time or prolonged working hours can lead to limited sun exposure. You can increase the outdoor time or take time out for spending atleast a few minutes daily in direct sun exposure because it is the only natural way to increase vitamin D levels. Exposing the skin to direct sunlight helps synthesise and boost the Vitamin D levels.
- Poor diet: Poor dietary habits are another cause of vitamin D deficiency. However, due to limited food sources available especially in vegetarian diets, maintaining optimal levels may be a challenge. Opt for foods naturally rich in vitamin D like fatty fish – salmon, mackerel, sardines, egg yolk, mushrooms, and fortified dairy foods to improve your vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is an important nutrient – especially for vegetarians – as there are limited sources of vitamin D-rich foods. Also, magnesium helps assist in the activation of Vitamin D, so consuming magnesium-rich foods like nuts, seeds, whole grains, and legumes can also assist in managing the levels. Consuming milk and milk products may also help manage calcium and phosphorus levels.
- Use of sunscreen: Nowadays, the usage of sunscreen has increased and it is a potential contributor to the deficiency of vitamin D. The reason behind this is that sunscreen blocks the skin layers from synthesising vitamin D when exposed to UV rays, leading to a lack of vitamin D in the body.
- Age: As we age, the body’s ability to convert vitamin D may also decrease. Older people are more likely to have lower vitamin D levels due to skin ageing, lower absorption power or lower levels of other supporting nutrients like calcium, magnesium or phosphorus. Consuming a balanced and healthy diet may help prevent deficiencies.
- Disease condition: Certain diseases or medical conditions like Crohn’s disease, obesity, liver or kidney problems and celiac disease may hamper vitamin D metabolism leading to its inability to convert to its active form. Individuals with gastrointestinal disorders or those who have undergone surgery may also see poor absorption of nutrients, especially fats and fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin D. Discussing with your healthcare professional and consuming a vitamin D-rich diet or supplements may help manage vitamin D levels.
- Medication Use: Laxatives, steroids or certain medicinal drugs like cholesterol lowering ones, seizures, weight loss, and tuberculosis can also affect the absorption of vitamin D. You may get your Vitamin D levels checked or discuss with your healthcare provider if using these medications persistently.
“The takeaway can be that other than exposure to sunlight for overcoming the deficiency of Vitamin D, including vital minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus along with fats can promote better absorption and metabolism of Vitamin D,” Puri said.