Lack of Vitamin D Can Cause These 6 Health Problems
Vitamin D is a vitamin that has an important role in maintaining healthy organ function. Unfortunately, vitamin D cannot be produced by the body alone. Therefore, you must get your intake from other sources such as sunlight. However, if you rarely do activities outside or are not exposed to sunlight at all, then your body may be deficient in vitamin D. In fact, this condition can cause serious health problems.
Signs of vitamin D deficiency
Before knowing the effects of a lack of vitamin D intake, you should first identify what the signs are.
Sometimes, the signs of vitamin D deficiency in adults are not as obvious. However, you can feel symptoms such as:
Meanwhile, the symptoms of vitamin D deficiency in children are usually more noticeable. In serious cases, children can develop rickets, which is a condition in which bones become brittle so that their growth is abnormal. This condition can cause signs such as pain in bones, muscle weakness, and joint deformities.
The impact of vitamin D deficiency on the body
If allowed to continue, lack of vitamin D intake can lead to various serious diseases. Here are some of them.
1. Bone becomes brittle
Because vitamin D is a bone-forming nutrient, a deficiency of this vitamin in the body will of course cause various problems with your bones. In the bones, vitamin D plays a role in maintaining the amount of calcium and phosphorus, which are essential minerals for bone density.
The absence of vitamin D prevents these minerals from being maintained and may cause a decrease in the amount of the mineral. This then makes your bones become brittle, break easily, and risk osteoporosis.
2. Easily depressed
Do you feel very easily depressed, too sensitive, even depression? It could be that your body is deficient in vitamin D. A study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry states that people who are low in vitamin D intake – whether from food or from the sun – are more likely to experience depression.
In the study, it was explained that vitamin D has a role in regulating hormones and influencing the part of the brain that is the center of mood. In another theory, it is also stated that this solar vitamin can increase chemicals in the brain, which can reduce stress levels.
3. The risk for cancer is greater
The risk for developing cancer is greater when your body is deficient in vitamin D. A study published in the regular meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology, reveals that a body that is deficient in vitamin D is at risk naturally. breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, thyroid cancer, to colon cancer.
Experts say that vitamin D has anti-cancer properties, which can help the body prevent the growth and spread of cancer cells. People who have an insufficient amount of vitamin D have a three times higher risk of developing cancer.
4. Interferes with the ability of the brain, causing dementia
Dementia is a disease that attacks the brain’s abilities related to memory, thinking, and language. Simply put, this disease makes you senile and difficult to think. Usually this condition is experienced by many elderly people, but it is not impossible for those of you who are still young because of vitamin D deficiency.
A study reported in the journal Neurology, a condition of severe vitamin D deficiency in adults, increases the risk of dementia aka dementia up to 2 times. Although it is not certain why, but experts link the role of vitamin D in the brain. In the brain, vitamin D acts as a ‘binder’ for plaque in the brain associated with dementia.
5. Increase the risk of heart disease
Although the main role of vitamin D is as a bone builder, this vitamin also affects the work of the heart. Some studies suggest that people who are deficient in vitamin D are at risk of developing problems with blood circulation and eventually developing heart disease.
Some theories suggest that vitamin D also has a role in the work of the heart. Vitamin D is fulfilled properly, will help the heart pump blood more effectively. Thus, when the amount is deficient in the body, the risk of heart disease is particularly high heart failure to increase.
6. Risk of impotence in men
For those of you men, be careful, lack of vitamin D can cause impotence. This has been proven in research conducted in America and involved as many as 3,400 men. In the study, it was found that people who had a vitamin D level of less than 20 nanograms per ml in their blood were at a high risk of developing impotence.
Impotence can occur due to disruption of blood flow to the male penis. Experts believe that a deficiency in vitamin D in the body will cause problems with blood flow, and this time it can occur in the male reproductive organs.
How do you deal with vitamin D deficiency?
In order to avoid the various risks of disease that have been mentioned, you must meet the needs of sufficient vitamin D. Likewise, if you have experienced a vitamin D deficiency, doctors will usually provide vitamin D supplements if needed.
You can also get your vitamin D intake by basking in the sun. But remember, you shouldn’t be in the sun for too long because the ultraviolet rays from the sun can increase the risk of cancer or skin aging.
Usually, sunbathing for 10-15 minutes is enough to help meet your intake of vitamin D. For those of you who have darker skin color or are older, you may need more sun exposure.
In addition, you can also get vitamin D from eating foods that contain it. Some of them are salmon, tuna, eggs, milk and yogurt.
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Reid, I., Bolland, M. and Gray, A. (2014). Effects of vitamin D supplements on bone mineral density: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet, 383 (9912), pp. 146-155.
Vitamin D Deficiency: Symptoms and Treatment. (2019). Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved 22 February 2021, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/15050-vitamin-d–vitamin-d-deficiency
Sorenson, M., & Grant, WB (2012). Does vitamin D deficiency contribute to erectile dysfunction? Dermato-Endocrinology, 4 (2), 128–136. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
Anglin, RE, Samaan, Z., Walter, S.Det al., Vitamin D deficiency and depression in adults: systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Psychiatry, 2013.202: p. 100-7. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
