Dubai: VITAMIN D deficiency has become a worldwide problem. It is estimated that about one billion people have inadequate levels of vitamin D in their blood. All age groups are vulnerable to vitamin D deficiency, though children below five, women and people over 65 are at a much higher risk.
One primary reason for this deficiency is the lack of adequate exposure to sunlight and the fact that not enough foods contain sufficient amounts of vitamin D to meet the daily body requirements. A minimum of 25-hydroxyvitamin D of 30 mg/ml, is required to maximize vitamin D’s beneficial effects for health.
Vitamin D deficiency Symptoms and Treatment
Professionals widely recognize vitamin D deficiency as a contributing factor for many diseases as it has a significant disease-fighting role. Vitamin D deficiency may lead to an increased chance of developing osteoporosis, rickets in children, osteomalacia among children and adults, cardiovascular diseases, type 1 diabetes, autoimmune diseases, hypertension, infectious diseases, dementia, and cancer, etc.
It is time we prepared diagnostic kits locally to reduce the cost of the test. Physicians must regularly prescribe this test, and we must ensure that we get sufficient exposure to sunlight, eat vitamin D-rich foods, including fish, cheese, beef liver, egg yolks, and dairy products.
The philanthropic bodies and healthcare professionals must create awareness about the importance of vitamin D. The understanding of the role of multivitamins needs to be further strengthened through research.
Tripling the dose of vitamin D supplementation for babies does not make their bones any stronger by age two, according to a study in Finland published on Tuesday.
Vitamin D is essential because it helps the body absorb calcium. It is naturally produced when the skin is exposed to sunlight, but as many as 40 per cents of Europeans do not get enough of it, according to a 2016 study. Without sufficient Vitamin D, people are at risk of rickets, a weakened bone condition that may result in stunted growth and bowed legs.
Thinking that more vitamin D might be better for babies, researchers conducted a randomized clinical trial of 975 healthy infants in Finland, assigning some to receive the recommended daily dose of 400 international units (IU) of vitamin D and the rest to get 1,200 IU.
