Vitamin D deficiency is one of the most common vitamin deficiency problems. Its incidence has certainly lowered over the last decades but it still takes place, affecting the lives of many people.
Our body gets vitamin D thanks to the Sun ray, that’s why it is commonly called the “sunshine vitamin”. Generally, problems with this vitamin are born out of ignorance on how to get the vitamin and lack of understanding of the causes and the signs & symptoms of vitamin D deficiency. Among the group of people with high risks of developing this problem, we have infants and pregnant women.
The symptoms of this condition will appear as bone/muscular problems, this is because the vitamin plays an important role in the strengthening of both of them, so a lack of the vitamin will result in weakened movements and constitution. Mainly it will lead to the development of rickets, osteomalacia and osteoporosis, basically the same condition but present at different ages.
Besides the conditions named above, there are other symptoms worth checking out, including bowed limbs, chronic fatigue, pain on bone and muscles, hypertension, low levels of calcium, diabetes type I, and tuberculosis. Note however that these symptoms are not exclusive to a vitamin D deficiency. If you feel any of those symptoms, the best you can do is go to the doctor and talk about the possible causes of the problem. You’ll probably have to undergo proper testing in order to discard a problem of this kind.
I have mentioned that infants and pregnant women are more prone at suffering from these symptoms. This is because they are in a period in life where they have more nutritional needs; also in the risk population are people who do not get enough Sun exposure and those who have malabsorption problems due to genetic factors or the presence of certain illnesses.