When I was in Pharmacy school, all I learned about vitamin D is that it's related to bone function and that it is toxic in high doses. Back then, full attention was not given to that crucial vitamin that is essential for most functions of the body.
Vitamin D is not actually a vitamin. It's a steroid hormone. There are receptors for it in every cell in the body. Moreover, it is not meant to be taken from the diet or from supplements but the body synthesizes it after exposure to sunlight.
Today, vitamin D deficiency is very common. We don't exactly know why. Is technology keeping us indoors so that we can't get enough sun exposure? Is it because sunscreen was over-marketed and skin cancer is linked to the sun? Or is the weather too hot now that we usually prefer to stay indoors most of the year? I guess we'll never know why. An interesting paper that was published in 1937 concluded that vitamin D precursors are washed off our skin when we use water. Showering and using soaps and detergents certainly contribute to the vitamin D deficiency phenomenon in the modern era. * Recent evidence shows that it takes up to 2 days for all the active vitamin D that is synthesized with the help of the sun to be absorbed through the skin! This means that showering every day will affect your vitamin D levels.
I personally was shocked when I discovered I was vitamin D deficient. I'm an outdoor person, and I love being in the sun. If my doctor hadn't written it among the tests I needed to perform before a small procedure, I would have never known.
How about you? Do you feel foggy, find it difficult to think clearly and feel down most of the time? It's time to get your D levels checked!
There are several symptoms that can be related to vitamin D deficiency. These are some of them:
Depression
Studies have associated depression with vitamin D deficiency, especially seasonal depression (the type that is exacerbated by winter).
Reduced Immunity
Vitamin D is needed for a good immune response against infections. A study in Japan found that children who were given vitamin D during winter had 40% less chance of getting Influenza type A.
Lower back pain and bone pain
It's well known that vitamin D is important for the bone, a classic symptom of vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is important for the absorption of calcium which is needed for the maintenance of the bones.
Fatigue
There are many causes of fatigue. A few studies have linked low levels of vitamin D to fatigue. Supplementing and correcting vitamin D increases energy levels.
Hair loss
Although this is not confirmed yet by enough studies, it is suggested that hair loss could be a sign of vitamin D deficiency.
Other conditions related to vitamin D deficiency include a link between an increased rate of cancer cells, impaired wound healing, and even autoimmune conditions.
What can you do if you think you have many of these symptoms?
Definitely get a blood test! The test is called 25-hydroxy vitamin D (or 25-hydroxycholecalciferol). Please do not attempt to supplement with vitamin D unless you were instructed by your doctor. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means that high levels in your blood are toxic. A deficiency is usually defined as less than 30 ng/ml (some people say less than 50 ng/ml). It is a good idea to check it regularly (every 6 months) because our bodies respond differently to vitamin D supplementation and also because the highest level is usually during summer and the lowest during winter.
It is pretty easy to fix vitamin D deficiency: get in the sun and eat seafood! What could be more fun? Salmon, Sardines, tuna, shrimp, egg yolks, and mushrooms (the ones that are grown in the sun, not the ones that grow in the dark). Some foods are also fortified with vitamin D. However, if your levels are very low, you will need a supplement course prescribed by your doctor.
Take care and get out in the sun! :)
For more information about how showers can affect your levels of vitamin D, please refer to the following ignored paper:
*Helmer AC, Jensen CH: Vitamin D precursors removed from the skin by washing. Studies Inst Divi Thomae 1937, 1:207-216
