VITAMIN D

VITAMIN D is VITAL to GOOD HEALTH (Long article but very informative) Your body uses VITAMIN D to absorb minerals like calcium and phosphorus. That makes your teeth and bones strong. Vitamin D also supports your muscles, nerves, and immune system. DEFICIENCY may lead to: 1. Slow Wound Healing ? Wounds don’t seem to heal as fast in people with low levels of vitamin D. That’s particularly true for people with burns. 2. Osteoporosis ? It affects a third of women between the ages of 60 and 70 and two thirds of women 80 or older. No single thing causes it, but not enough vitamin D makes it harder for your body to use the minerals it needs to keep bones strong. In osteoporosis, this means enlargement of natural spaces in the substance of your bones. They become more “porous,” which makes them more breakable. 3. Muscle Pain ? People who have pain and weakness in their muscles and bones often don’t have enough vitamin D. In older people especially, weak muscles can raise your chances of falling and breaking a bone. 4. Rickets ? City pollution could be thick enough to block much of the sunlight. This caused low vitamin D levels that led to an epidemic of this children’s disease that stunts growth and softens and misshapes growing bones. It’s especially possible in babies born to moms with severely low vitamin D. 5. Osteomalacia ?Unlike rickets, which is mostly a childhood disease, you can get osteomalacia through adulthood. Even after your bones stop growing, they need vitamin D for repair and maintenance. If your levels stay low for a long time, it can soften your bones. That can cause breaks and other problems, especially in your hips. 6. At Risk: Breast Feed Infants ? There often isn’t enough vitamin D in breast milk to keep infants healthy unless the mother takes a supplement. Rickets happens most often in breastfed children. 7. At Risk: People with Bowel Problem ? Your body needs fat to use vitamin D. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other conditions that affect your gut -- like celiac disease and cystic fibrosis -- make it harder for you to absorb this fat. That can mean you need more vitamin D to keep your levels up. 8. At Risk: People With Gastric Bypass ? It’s a type of surgery that removes part of the stomach or intestines (sometimes both) so that you feel fuller faster and eat fewer calories. After the surgery, it’s harder to absorb some nutrients including vitamin B12, copper, zinc, calcium, and vitamin D. Your doctor will probably track your levels and suggest daily vitamin supplements to keep your levels healthy. 9. At Risk: People Who Are Obese ? If you have a BMI of 30 or more (meaning you are obese), your vitamin D levels are more likely to be lower than someone who isn't obese. It’s not that your skin makes less vitamin D, it’s that the extra fat under your skin keeps more of it and changes the way it goes into your blood. Source: Webmed