Vitamin D
The vitamins and minerals are essential in human life, and the symptoms and diseases of their lack of importance, as people spend large amounts annually to compensate for the lack of vitamins from supplements, and these vitamins not only protect against diseases of deficiency, but also play other health roles of great importance to humans. A person often gets all his vitamin needs from food sources, except for vitamin D, which is known as a vitamin that does not get sufficient amounts of food, and which the body makes in the skin from a primary compound with the help of sunlight .
Daily needs of vitamin d
The following table shows the daily requirements of vitamin D by age group:
| Age group | Daily needs (microgram / day) | Upper limit (microgram / day) |
|---|---|---|
| Infants 0-6 months | 10 | 25 |
| Infants 6-12 months | 10 | 38 |
| Children 1-3 years | 15 | 63 |
| Children 4-8 years | 15 | 75 |
| 5-50 years | 15 | 100 |
| 51-70 years | 20 | 100 |
| 71 years and over | 15 | 100 |
| Pregnant and nursing | 15 | 100 |
How To Get Vitamin D Requirements
In general, food is not enough to get vitamin D needs, and in turn it can be obtained by exposure to sunlight , Where exposing the face, hands and arms to the sun for 10 to 15 minutes on sunny days two to three times a week to provide the body needs of vitamin D , While those with darker skin need to be exposed to the sun for longer periods to get their needs , Prolonged exposure to sunlight can not cause toxicity of vitamin D. Prolonged exposure to sunlight breaks the raw material that makes vitamin D in the skin, so it does not get toxic, but in contrast, prolonged exposure to sunlight increases the risk Skin cancer and early aging, causing wrinkles, and some may choose to put sunscreen to prevent the harmful effects of the sun or not to get vitamin D, and a suitable solution can be put on the sun after the exposure of exposure to sufficient time .
As for its sources of food, the fish liver oil is the highest sources, and it is found in small quantities and varying in egg yolks, butter, butter and cream, in addition to the food supported, such as breakfast cereals and fortified milk , And people who are not exposed to the sun for sufficient periods should take two cups of vitamin D-fortified milk daily In infants, vitamin D supplementation should be given in breast-feeding cases, and formula milk is usually fortified .
Vitamin D functions and its importance
Vitamin D plays essential roles in the body including:
- Bone growth and health: Vitamin D maintains the concentration of calcium and phosphorus in the blood allowing the bone to absorb them. It does so by three roles, improving their absorption of the digestive system and re-absorbing them in the kidneys , And contribute with the thyroid gland in the withdrawal of the bone to the blood in case of deficiency, so be careful to eat sufficient amounts of calcium and get sufficient amounts of vitamin D to keep the hormone thyroid gland low and maintain bone health .
- The importance of vitamin D in the body is not limited to its role in bone, where modern scientific research has found receptors in many cells of the body that it was not thought to have a role in it , Such as immune cells, brain, nervous system, pancreas, skin, muscle, cartilage and genitals , As it plays an important role in the differentiation and growth, in addition to the presence of receptors in the cells of the breast and colon, as its role in it reduces the risk of cancer .
- Many studies suggest that vitamin D plays an important role in regulating the immune system, which causes some autoimmune disorders, such as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease And rheumatism .
- Some studies found an inverse relationship between blood levels of vitamin D and insulin resistance and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes .
- Vitamin D plays an essential role in muscle contraction, which includes the heart muscle .
Vitamin D deficiency
The important, fundamental and multivariate functions of vitamin D, which we discussed above, fully explain the seriousness of the lack of health on the body, mainly caused by lack of production of protein, which is associated with calcium in the intestine to be absorbed, causing calcium deficiency even if the person intake in sufficient quantities This is due to the fact that adolescents do not have the opportunity to accumulate their bone mass to the highest attainable level, while in children it causes rickets, osteoporosis and osteoporosis in adults , In addition to other effects of deficiency, we will talk about the effects of vitamin D deficiency and the problems caused by it.
Ricks
Vitamin D deficiency causes the bones to lose enough calcium, causing delayed growth and deformity. The bones become weak and unable to bear body weight. When the baby starts walking, the bones of the legs are too weak to bear the weight of the body. The signs of rickets have been shown. Symptoms also include a change in the shape and appearance of the chest bones. The bones of the ribs, , The protrusion of the skull of the front, swelling of the wrist and ankle, bone pain, muscle weakness and oxidation (constriction and continuous spasm) , As the emergence of teeth in children with rickets, which may grow weak and distorted .
Factors that increase the risk of rickets include dark skin, prolonged breastfeeding without vitamin D supplementation, chronic fat absorption problems, anticonvulsant therapy, and rickets in the past have been prevalent in poor children living in Advanced cities with low exposure to sunlight .
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis in adults is a disease of rickets in children. It often affects women who do not receive their calcium intake with insufficient exposure to sunlight, women who have frequent reproduction and frequent breastfeeding, causing loss of bone density And followed Causing the curvature of the feet and the curvature of the back , The appearance of fractures in the bones, especially in the spine and the femur and humerus, it also causes muscle weakness and increases the risk of fractures, especially fractures of the bones of the wrist and pelvis .
Osteoporosis
Osteoarthritis is a multivariate disease. It is caused by the lack of bone mass, the most common disease in women after menopause, and it can affect older men , And in cases of vitamin D deficiency, calcium loss of bone, which loses them from the mass, which can cause fractures .
Other effects of Vitamin D deficiency
The diseases we are talking about above are the underlying diseases of vitamin D deficiency, but their multiple roles throughout the body make for its absence other effects, where scientific research has found many effects of lack include:
- Depression: Vitamin D deficiency has increased the chance of depression, and vitamin D supplements have been shown to help treat depression in people who are also deficient. .
- Obesity: Some studies have found a link between vitamin D deficiency and increased chance of fat accumulation and obesity .
- Increased risk of viral and bacterial respiratory infections .
- Vitamin D deficiency can play a role in raising the chance of asthma, which also has a role in treating it , And there was a link between vitamin D deficiency and severe asthma in children .
- Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease .
- Vitamin D deficiency is associated with cognitive retardation in older persons .
- I found a link between vitamin D deficiency and cancer .
Vitamin D deficiency in older people
As aging increases, the ability of the skin, liver and kidneys to turn vitamin D into its active form is reduced. Older people spend most of their time indoors and are not exposed to enough sunlight. In addition to their lack of fortified milk, which is the main dietary source of vitamin D, Vitamin D deficiency is therefore more common in older people and increases the risk of fractures .
Treatment of vitamin D deficiency
To treat this deficiency, dietary vitamin D supplements are taken as prescribed by the treating physician and vitamin D supplementation should be avoided without medical supervision , As it is a vitamin soluble in fat and can cause toxicity may be serious if its dietary supplements are taken at high doses .