Causes and effects of vitamin D deficiency

Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. His contribution is found in many foods, especially dairy products and oily fish as well as in the sun. However, there are causes of the deficit of this vitamin and some characteristic symptoms it's important to treat address.

Until recently all that was known of the vitamin was the source of their contribution was the sun and certain foods (dairy products and oily fish) and the role it had in our body was intended calcium metabolism, resulting in stunted growth and composition of bone tissue (rickets, osteopenia, osteoporosis). Today we know much more from the Endocrinology and other specialties on the causes of the deficit and the symptoms it causes.

Causes of vitamin D deficiency

There are a number of circumstances that can cause vitamin D deficiency. Some of them are:

Dark skin: melanin more difficult to produce vitamin D in the skin

Lack of sun exposure: the most important source of vitamin D is the sun. It will thus be more deficits in winter than in summer. On the other hand, if we use sunscreen absorbed less.

Age over 50 years by several factors, such as decreased intestinal absorption, decreased conversion in the kidney and decreased sun exposure.

Using the oven: heating or cooking food in the microwave destroys vitamin D containing foods.

Vegetarian diet: no more prone to vitamin D deficiency, especially in the vegan diet (lack of milk and eggs).

Low intake of the vitamin-rich foods: butter, milk, tuna, salmon, egg yolk, mushrooms, mushrooms, herring, sardines, shellfish and liver, among others.

Intestinal absorption problems: Crohn's disease or celiac disease.

Liver or kidney failure: lack of production at these levels.

Reducing fats in the diet: vitamin D is fat-soluble, so you need fat for absorption.

Antiepileptic consumption: increase the breakdown of vitamin D.

Cortisone consumption

Hyperthyroidism increases the metabolism of vitamin D.

Obesity: Vitamin D binds to fat and no longer flows through the body.

Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency

Over the past few years they have been doing lots of work in relation to the vitamin and we can ensure that its deficiency can cause the following pathological situations:

Asthenia: weakness or fatigue generally difficult to perform everyday tasks

Apathy: Lack of emotion, motivation or enthusiasm

Anemia condition that decreases the amount of healthy red blood cells which deliver oxygen to tissues in the body

Head Sweating

Decreased defenses down or atrophy in white blood cells

Tendency to autoimmune diseases:- Organ-specific autoimmune diseases, ie, those in which only affected organ or tissue. The most popular and common: pernicious anemia, celiac disease, type I diabetes mellitus, Graves' disease, Addison's disease, multiple sclerosis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, myasthenia gravis, Goodpasture's syndrome, Crohn's disease, etc.- Systemic autoimmune diseases, or those that affect more than one organ or tissue. The most common are: Lupus Erythematosus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Sjogren's syndrome, psoriasis, Sarcoidosis ...Skin problems: psoriasis, lupus, atopic dermatitis

Tendency to gain weight

Tendency to hypothyroidism disease characterized by functional decline of the thyroid gland, which causes fatigue, sensitivity to cold and, in women, menstrual disorders.

Imbalance of diabetes; that is, high levels of blood glucose.

Increasing pain of diabetic neuropathy, which is nerve damage as a result of decreased blood flow and high blood sugar.

Osteopenia: decrease in bone mineral density that can be a precursor to osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis: bone disorder characterized by decreased bone density, which results in fragility of the bones.

Hyperparathyroidism: alteration in the parathyroid glands secrete parathyroid hormone responsible for regulating calcium, magnesium and phosphorus in the blood and bones.

Muscular weakness

hypertension, chronic disease characterized by a continuous increase in blood pressure in the arteries.

inflammatory bowel disease: Crohn's disease or celiac disease, among others.

Dementia: loss of mental faculties due to age or illness, characterized by memory loss and behavioral disorders.

More prone to Parkinson's, a degenerative disease of the nervous system characterized by a lack of coordination and muscular rigidity and tremors.

Greater tendency to breast, prostate, colon cancer and lymphoma

More likely to fibromyalgia, unknown disease characterized by chronic muscle pain, followed by fatigue.

Insomnia