IS VITAMIN D THE NEW ELIXIR?

The Good News- Our body naturally makes Vitamin D from sunshine!

The Bad News- We don’t get enough exposure to the sun to maintain adequate levels

VITAMIN D insufficiency is emerging as an unrecognized pandemic.

It is emerging that rickets is only the tip of the iceberg of vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D is one of the fat soluble vitamins.It is produced when skin is exposed to the sun.  For this reason, vitamin D is often referred to as the “sunshine” vitamin.

The circulating levels of 25(OH)D is the most suitable indicator of vitamin D status because it is easily measured stable and longest half-life of 3 weeks.

A clear consensus exists that the best indicator to evaluate vit Dstatus is level of 25(OH)D but no consensus exists as to level of 25(OH)D to define deficiency.

In the past 10 years vitamin D has become something of a catch-all in disease prevention and treatment. Both communicable and non-communicable diseases are associated with vitamin D deficiency. These include respiratory infection, HIV progression, type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, depression, irritable bowel disease, asthma and multiple cancers, including colorectal, lung and breast cancers.

8 signs and symptoms of vitamin D deficiency:

  1. Getting Sick or Infected Often.
  2. Fatigue and Tiredness.
  3. Bone and Back Pain.
  4. Depression.
  5. Impaired Wound Healing.
  6. Bone Loss.
  7. Hair Loss.
  8. Muscle Pain

Symptoms are subtle and non -specific and that’s a major challenge for all health professionals.

                                                                                                   Dr.Ashish Jain

                                                                                         Principal Consultant-Joint Replacement Specialist

                                                                                        MAX SUPER SPECIALITY HOSPITAL SHALIMAR BAGH.

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