Deficiency of vitamin D (calciferol) is a rather serious condition of the body associated with insufficient intake and impaired absorption of calcium and phosphorus in the body from food. Without these elements, the skeletal system is not able to form correctly, and the nervous and immune systems cannot work fully. As a result, serious irreversible pathologies develop. To prevent probable illnesses, you need, as they say, to know the enemy in person. And for this you need to know what causes a lack of vitamin D, symptoms of its deficiency and ways to deal with it.
About Vitamin
Vitamin D is not one vitamin. It is a group of chemical compounds that perform the same function.
There are two active forms of vitamin D :
1. Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) is supplied exclusively with food.
2. Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is produced in the skin under the influence of sunlight and enters the body with food.
Vitamin D deficiency, the symptoms of which are different, can occur due to insufficient intake of one of them. Despite the partial interchangeability of D2 and D3, both of them cannot fully fulfill each other's tasks.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that has the ability to accumulate in adipose tissue. In addition, fats are necessary for the full absorption of it in the intestines. Unlike other vitamins, it acts not only as a vitamin, but also as a hormone.
What is it needed for
The role of vitamin D for the human body cannot be overestimated.
First of all, he is responsible for the absorption of calcium from food. With its deficiency, bones and teeth suffer. Therefore, against the background of hypovitaminosis D, rickets often develop in children, in which bone tissue does not receive a sufficient amount of minerals. As a result, the bones soften, skeletal deformities occur. Bones of an adult acquire a porous structure, as a result of which a disease such as osteoporosis is observed.
In addition to regulating calcium in the body, calciferol helps maintain the necessary level of phosphorus in the blood, prevents muscle weakness, strengthens the immune system, and is involved in the regulation of the nervous and cardiovascular systems.
Vitamin D promotes the absorption of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus from the intestine, thus affecting the metabolism. He is also a protector against many ailments, such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes.
Vitamin D is also necessary for the proper functioning of all organs and systems, in particular for the functioning of the intestine, thyroid gland and genitals.
In addition, calciferol prevents the uncontrolled proliferation of tumor cells, thereby achieving a good effect in the treatment and prevention of cancer.
Causes of Calciferol Deficiency
Lack of vitamin D causes various symptoms. The reasons for this deficiency are not the same. To begin, let's find out what factors affect the occurrence of a deficiency of this vitamin:
• Vegetarianism. Calciferol comes from animal products such as eggs, fatty fish, beef liver, cheese, and milk. Vegetarians who deny themselves this kind of food are prone to lack of vitamin.
• Lack of sun. In the human body, vitamin D is produced under the influence of ultraviolet radiation. Chances to get a deficit are residents of the northern regions, couch potatoes and people who work night shifts or lead a nocturnal lifestyle.
• Dark skin. Since melanin interferes with the production of calciferol in response to exposure to sunlight, dark-skinned people are more prone to hypovitaminosis D.
• Inability of the kidneys to convert vitamin D into an active form. With age, human kidneys begin to less efficiently convert calciferol into an active form, as a result of which a vitamin deficiency develops.
• Poor absorption. Disruptions in the work of the intestines and stomach, as a result of which fat-soluble vitamins cease to be absorbed, lead to vitamin deficiency.
Symptoms of Vitamin D Lack
Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to determine the vitamin deficiency itself at the initial stage, since most of the symptoms during this period are non-specific and can often be mistaken for other diseases. Lack of calciferol, as a rule, is detected already in the midst of the disease.
Vitamin D deficiency in adults
Vitamin deficiency is most often experienced by people who rarely visit the open air, have a limited diet and drink alcohol. Due to lifestyle, a modern person does not receive enough calciferol. Vitamin D2, which enters the body with food, is usually not enough for the normal functioning of the body, and for the formation of vitamin D3, you need to take sunbaths daily for at least 1 hour.
What are the signs of vitamin D deficiency? Symptoms in adults are often associated with poor health, headaches, increased fatigue, and decreased performance. Often these people have joint pain. Moreover, the sensation of aches in the bones may appear even without apparent reason.
What causes vitamin D deficiency? Symptoms may manifest as persistent dental problems. In this case, caries often occurs, tooth enamel loses its strength and whiteness.
Signs of a vitamin deficiency are a sudden change of mood, irritability, aggression, nervousness and tearfulness. In addition, vision often worsens, sleep is disturbed, appetite decreases, weight loss occurs.
As you can see, if there is a lack of vitamin D, the symptoms in adults are non-specific. Therefore, this condition can be suspected only by a combination of signs. But it is possible to establish a diagnosis only after conducting a biochemical laboratory study.
Vitamin D deficiency in children
Especially dangerous is the lack of vitamin D in infants, the symptoms of which begin to appear after two months of life. Babies, even if they receive high-quality and balanced nutrition, are not immune from the development of rickets.
In past centuries, almost all children in their first year of life were deficient in vitamin. For this reason, their bones and joints did not form correctly. Today, a lack of vitamin D is less common in the body. Symptoms are most often observed in premature babies, who are breast-fed and who live in industrial regions of children. In addition, the lack of vitamin D is often social and everyday. In infants, symptoms can also occur with diseases of the internal organs. Therefore, the health of the crumbs must be carefully monitored.
How to determine if a child has a vitamin D deficiency?
The symptoms of this condition in the early stages are as follows:
• Increased sweating. The palms and feet of the baby are constantly wet, it sweats during feeding or other physical exertion. In a sleeping state, the child has a severe hyperhidrosis of the scalp, in the neck, hair begins to fall out, and the baby goes bald.
• Slow closure of the fontanel. As you know, in healthy children, the fontanel closes after a year and a half after birth and significantly decreases by 6 months of age. If after six months the fontanel is larger than 10-12 mm and its edges remain soft and supple, you should consult a pediatrician in order to eliminate vitamin D deficiency.
• Moodiness and tearfulness, troubled sleep, which are a sign of increased nervous irritability.
• Belated teething.
If no treatment has been given at the initial stage and vitamin D deficiency is still observed in the child, the symptoms become more pronounced. At this stage, bone tissue is deformed. The occipital part of the child is flattened, the size of the parietal and frontal tubercles increase. The chest protrudes forward, and the legs become O- or X-shaped. Rickety in an advanced stage is accompanied by mental and physical inhibition in development.
What is the danger of vitamin D deficiency?
Calciferol deficiency not only worsens the general condition, but also causes serious transformations in bone tissues. A prolonged lack of this vitamin can cause tooth decay, tooth loss, and osteomalacia, in which bone tissue becomes soft.
Hypovitaminosis D is especially dangerous for the elderly, when, against the background of a lack of calciferol and calcium, the bones become fragile, which indicates the development of osteoporosis. For this reason, such people often experience fractures. Menopausal women are also at risk for osteoporosis. This is due to the fact that during menopause, the level of estrogen hormones responsible for the normal bone composition decreases. As a result, calcium and collagen are lost. Therefore, if there are symptoms of vitamin D deficiency in women, especially during menopause, this may indicate the development of osteoporosis.
Vitamin D deficiency in children, which developed in infancy, can lead to the development of mild or moderate rickets. In this case, the child’s bones and joints will be weak, and externally it will manifest itself in the form of O- or X-shaped legs and a “chicken” chest. The severe stage of the disease, as a rule, is accompanied by inhibition of mental and physical development.
Treatment for Calciferol Deficiency
In order to treat vitamin D deficiency at the initial stage of development, dietary adjustments are made and preventive doses of preparations containing this vitamin are prescribed.
If preventive measures were taken at the wrong time and diseases associated with hypovitaminosis D began to progress, resort to complex therapy. It consists in taking calcium preparations, ultraviolet radiation and treating diseases of internal organs. Since the intake of vitamin D in large doses provokes intoxication in the body, vitamins A, C and group B are introduced into the treatment regimen.