Sunshine Vitamin D Deficiency

Fortification of foods and advice on sensible sun exposure are urgently needed.

Rickets became extremely rare in the United Kingdom, Europe and United States after it was realized that exposure to ultraviolet light was the major of vitamin D, and after the fortification of milk and other foods with vitamin D.
At least a billion people world wide are estimated to be vitamin D Deficient, mainly because of inadequate exposure to sunlight and inadequate fortification of food with vitamin D.

Human breast milk contains very little vitamin D and women with vitamin D Deficiency provide no vitamin D for their infant.

Vitamin D deficiency causes Secondary Hyperparathyroidism and increases destruction of the skeleton by precipitating on exacerbation osteropenia and osteoporosis. Raised parathyroid hormone concentration include phosphaturia and hypophospatemia, this causes a mineralization defect of the osteoid (osteomalacia). Unlike osteoporosis, which is painless disease, rickets and the adult counterpart osteomalacia can cause non-specific aches and pains in bones and muscles, and severe muscle weakness.

Vitamin D deficiency, or lack exposure to the sun have an increased risk of many risk of many cancers. Increasing the intake of vitamin D to 1000 IU a day reduces the risk of colorectal cancer and other deadly cancers by 30-50%. Vitamin D deficiency is also linked to cardiovascular disease.

One study found that the risk for the first cardiovascular event was 62% higher in people with Vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin Deficiency has also been associated with autoimmune disease, infectious disease, and schizophrenia.

Serum calcium concentrations are usually normal in people with vitamin D deficiency and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D values are normal or raised.

The only way to know a person's vitamin D status to measure serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations. Aggressive treatment of vitamin D deficiency with 300 000 IU of intramuscular vitamin D daily. Vitamin D (50,000 IU) once a week for eight weeks will correct vitamin D deficiency. To maintain vitamin D sufficiency, 500,000 IU of vitamin D twice a month or 1000-2000 IU of vitamin D a day is usually sufficient. Vitamin D intoxication is an extremely rare.
Although the health benefits of vitamin D sufficiency are clear, awareness of dangers of vitamin D deficiency is lacking. People with vitamin D deficiency have no obvious symptoms until it is so severe that they develop osteomalacia; this is often misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia.