One in four people in the United States are vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D is an essential nutrient in absorbing calcium and also regulating cellular functions throughout your body. It is often found in fortified milk, fortified cereal, and fatty fish. However your body also makes the vitamin when direct sunlight hits your skin and converts chemicals into the active form of the vitamin called calciferol.
Even if you’re outside, you might not still be getting sufficient vitamin D from just being in the sun due to several causes. These involve the usage of sunscreen, only getting indirect sunlight, intensity of sun during the season, cloud cover, latitude of your location, and also skin pigmentation. While sunscreen is important, it will reduce the body’s natural ability to make vitamin D. The amount of sunlight in several seasons in the pacific northwest makes it hard for people to make enough vitamin D. Also in the spring, winter and fall the latitude of the earth makes the rays of the sunlight to be less intense and therefore less effective to make vitamin D. People with darker skin produces less vitamin D than light skin.
You can increase your vitamin D intake by eating particular foods or taking supplements. You can also consume vitamin D in the form of pills or be given it via intramuscular injections.
Vitamin D is necessary in the process of calcium absorption in your gut. It also helps regulate and maintain the ideal amounts of phosphorus and calcium in your blood.
Lack of vitamin D in children can lead to rickets, which weakens their bones. Adults who don't receive enough vitamin D get osteomalacia or osteoporosis, when bones are weak or brittle.
A proper vitamin D intake may support immunological health, reduce inflammation, and reduce the risk of autoimmune issues. Numerous studies have shown that vitamin D is essential for a healthy immune system.
Long-term vitamin D deficiency is suspected to be linked to the onset of autoimmune disorders such as asthma, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis.
The lack of vitamin D is a widespread problem worldwide. A little under 25 percent of the adult population in the US is vitamin D deficient.
Usually, vitamin D deficiency isn't linked with clear symptoms. However, a continuous lack can lead to certain signs and diseases.
Some common symptoms include:
Most common methods of getting extra vitamin D are through supplements and injections.
National Institutes of Health concludes that both supplements and injections are effective ways to raise vitamin D levels. These vitamin D injections are extremely beneficial if your levels are extremely low. Vitamin D is injected into a muscle and will release over time. Injection shots provide faster absorption and will maintain the vitamin D level for a longer period of time than supplements. Oral supplements, in the form of liquids, tablets, or pills, must first need to be digested and also absorbed into the bloodstream. The digestion and absorption of the oral form may be limited for some people with absorption conditions. Studies have also shown that people who benign oral supplements regimens often fail to maintain them.
Regardless of the method of getting vitamin D, it is important that you are getting enough vitamin D. Please contact our clinic if you have more questions or would like to get a vitamin D injection.
