Vitamin D

Introduction

"Vitamin D, also known as calciferol" is important for the absorption of calcium to build strong bones of the body.

"Medical research shows that there are more tasks for this vitamin and it may play a role in multiple diseases such as asthma, cancer, depression, heart disease and diabetes and even weight gain". The current research is discussing this topic due to the great number of people today having deficiency in Vitamin D so it presents recent information about this topic as it became the talk of the day. Vitamin D is one of the most important vitamins in the body, which is soluble in fat and is stored in the fatty tissues of the body. As it is the primary regulator of the body to balance the level of calcium. Vitamin D helps to provide the bones with the needed mineral and skeletal development.

          The world today has millions of people whose blood level of vitamin D is abnormal. The past decade research results showed how far vitamin D is playing a vital role as a disease fighting factor which raised the importance to investigate about it. Chronic illnesses and infectious diseases are said to affect those people who are having deficiency in vitamin D more probably than normal people. Researches of today are investigating about the needed amount of vitamin D any one requires daily for keeping the bones and raise the person's level of prevention against having diseases.   Vitamin D is considered a kind of nutrients that got into our bodies through eating special foods in addition to the ability of the body to form it as a hormone. Foods rich in this vitamin are few so doctors always suggest their patients with deficiency in vitamin D to have supplements of the vitamin. Some fish have richness of the vitamin such as Tuna and Salmon.

Benefits of Vitamin D

Vitamin D helps in the formation of blood cells, and increasing the immunity, which reduces the risk of cancer. It helps maintaining the necessary levels of insulin. It regulates the immune system, and it is useful in the treatment of rheumatic diseases that most of which are confusing. It reduces losses of calcium in the urine when the patient to eat cortisone derivatives.

Vitamin D helps preserving the mass of muscles which helps the muscles of a person to work properly and do their required exercises, it also helps a person to control high blood pressure, get rid of obesity and be away from the dangers of heart disease and diabetes. It also helps elderly people to have sharp minds and good memory as it enhances the level of brain work and raises its functions' level as it works as an antioxidant which protects the human brain from damage. It also helps the brain to have high learning abilities. (Dowd and Stafford, 2008) The sun is very important for the releasing of vitamin D in the body as vitamin D is able to normalize the levels of cholesterol in the body which in turn prevents a person from having dangerous cardiovascular diseases or diabetes. Vitamin D is also useful for weight loss as people whose levels of vitamin D are low are more liable to obesity than others in addition to the role of the vitamin in helping having a better body composition. (Grimes, 2009) Vitamin D works as a defense line against damages, diseases and other health problems because it organizes the body's immune system and it decreases the person's risk of falling and helps reduces the chances of having cancer. (Chang, 2014)

 What are the causes of vitamin D deficiency?

The lack of eating foods that contain vitamin D and low exposure to the sun can lead to a decrease in amounts of this vitamin in the body. The people with brown skin color more susceptible to vitamin D deficiency as studies proved that the skin's ability to form vitamin D is reduced by the pigment melanin in such dark skins. It also affects people who suffer from obesity. Vitamin D deficiency is one of the common diseases, and its delayed diagnosis is often because of the slow progression of the disease, and because of the nature of civilian life in closed housing apartments and lack of exposure to sunlight. People whose diet is poor in foods rich in vitamin D are usually liable to vitamin D deficiency specially those vegetarians as the vitamin is mostly found in foods that strict vegetarian avoid such as egg yolks, fish meat, liver of beef and milk which is fortified.

Some medical conditions people may have can cause deficiency of vitamin D as inflammatory bowel disease, crohn's disease, cystic fibrosis or celiac disease. There are also medicines that may lead to having deficiency of vitamin D such as some anti-seizure medicines. Age is also a factor which increases the possibility of having deficiency of vitamin D because it was proved by studies that the elder we are, the weaker our bodies are to absorb vitamin D, children and infants are also more liable to the vitamin deficiency if their intake of the vitamin is not adequate.(Drezner, 2014) Kidney disease and liver disease also lead the person with them to have deficiency in vitamin D due to the lack of special enzymes in the affected kidney or liver as such enzymes are responsible for turning vitamin D to the required form the body needs. Intestine disability to absorb the vitamin can also lead to a deficiency in it in the body.  (Schrier, 2010)

Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency

There are many symptoms of vitamin D deficiency such as bones pain which could be a sign of having Osteomalacia which is a disease that affects bones leading to spin bending, legs bowing, weakness of a person's muscles and fragility of the bones which all lead to having high risks for fractions. Weakness of the muscles is another symptom that point to the possibility of having a deficiency in vitamin D as "According to Michael F. Holick, a leading vitamin D expert, muscle weakness is usually caused by vitamin D deficiency because for skeletal muscles to function properly, their vitamin D receptors must be sustained by vitamin D." (Geib, 2012)

Respiratory problems and having frequent flu infections may tell that a person, especially children, may have deficiency in vitamin D. Another symptom is having high blood pressure or hypertension and it is also associated with headache, stress, depression and anxiety which all could refer to a deficiency in vitamin D. General tiredness, pains, aches and lower back pains are also signs that can tell a person suffers a deficiency in vitamin D. Other symptoms can be falling easily as the high risks of falling is usually associated with a deficiency in vitamin D as "In a report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in February 2004, researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland showed that elderly women who took a vitamin D supplement plus calcium for three months reduced their risk of falling by 49% compared with consuming calcium alone. Those women who had fallen repeatedly in the past seemed to gain the most benefit from vitamin D."(Chang, 2014) Having difficulties to rise up from sitting positions, difficulties during walking and going upstairs are also associated with the deficiency in vitamin D. (O'Connor, 2014)

Rickets is a disease which clearly tells that a child suffers deficiency in vitamin D and this disease occurs when a child food is not fortified with vitamin D or when the child is not feed with enough amounts of milk. Another symptom is changes of mood and personality as the person who suffers deficiency in vitamin D is usually have bad moods and may suffer depression. (O'Connor, 2014)

Conclusion

          To conclude, it is important to say that vitamin D has been proved by evidence based researches and studies to play a very serious role in helping bodies of both children and adults get many benefits as this vitamin works as a helping factor that leads the body to gain its health greatly. Vitamin D is found in foods we eat or the body can produce it as a hormone but the sun is a condition of absorbing the vitamin in the blood. Vitamin D is mainly found in fish like tuna or salmon, fortified milk, cereals of breakfast, cheeses and beef liver. It can also be taken as a supplement prescribed by the doctor when needed. It helps the body strengthen its bones, prevents many health problems as breathing problems, falls, bones fractions, headache in addition to its ability to strengthen the body immune. Vitamin D deficiency can cause many problems and it occurs when the body is not given the required amounts of vitamin D whether through a poor intake or by not having the enough sunlight needed for releasing vitamin D in the blood. There are also some diseases that weakness the level of vitamin D in the blood. Many symptoms can tell a person has a deficiency in vitamin D such as feeling always tired, weakness of the muscles, bones pain, headache and falling accidents. The current research discussed the previous idea due to the great importance given recently to vitamin D role to the body health.