One little vitamin. It’s just one little vitamin, represented by one little letter. But let me tell you, man oh man, it makes a world of difference!!! I’m talking about vitamin D! Why am I talking about Vitamin D? It’s because overlooking this little vitamin may be adding further complications to your well being. Discovering and treating my vitamin D deficiency has unlocked a great mystery for me; it has me feeling better, to say the least!
This recent discovery about my low vitamin d levels from my doctor has shed more light and health into my life. Who knew that my insomnia and mood swings could be alleviated by this one little letter: D! D is, indeed, Divine!
I’m no medical expert, so, I’ll let some internet research about vitamin D do the talking for me.
Vitamin D Deficiency
Symptoms?Early signs of deficiency include sweating, trouble sleeping, lower back and leg pain. More serious symptoms include bone deformities due to the softening of bones over long term deficiency. This includes difficulty in walking, climbing stairs, and susceptibility to fractures. Lack of this nutrient in infants is likely to cause poor development of bones, resulting in rickets and other deformities.
Vitamin D deficiency symptoms are often confused with another condition known as hypoparathyroidism, when the parathyroid glands are not producing enough hormones for healthy body function. These hormones help to regulate the body’s calcium levels, which works together with vitamin D to maintain normal mineralization of bone.
What Is Vitamin D?
Not naturally found in many foods, Vitamin D is generally added to products, like milk, as a supplement. Your body absorbs this nutrient from the sun’s ultraviolet rays, through a process known as vitamin D synthesis. This fat-soluble vitamin must go through two processes (hydroxylations) in order for the body to process it, through the liver and the kidney, ultimately to form calcitriol. Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption to maintain normal mineralization of bone. It helps prevent hypocalcemic tetany, rickets, osteomalacia, and osteoporosis. It is also involved in modulation of immune function, such as inflammation reduction. It also helps prevent colon cancer. Some believe that vitamin D may also help prevent type 1 and type 2 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, glucose intolerance and hypertension, though evidence for these claims is still under debate.
Deficiency?
A deficiency of vitamin D can be caused by lack of sun exposure, as well as nutritional neglect. Rickets in children is a common condition related to a vitamin D deficiency, which involves the development of soft bone tissue and deformity. Often related to calcium, osteoporosis is also contributed to by a lack of vitamin D. This condition generally occurs with old age, due to the skin being unable to effectively absorb vitamin D from the sun’s rays. By ensuring that you have enough vitamin D in your diet, you can prevent osteoporosis and other conditions from occurring later in life.
Where To Find It?
- A variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products.
- Lean meats, beans, nuts, poultry, eggs, and fish.
- Added to some brands of butter.
- Nutritional supplements and other fortified foods.
- Milk is fortified with vitamin D, as well as cheeses, and many cereal products.
- Sunlight!
Vitamin D Deficiency Linked With Depression
Could Vitamin D Deficiency Cause Depression?
By Mark Stibich, Ph.D., About.com Guide
Updated July 22, 2008
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board
Vitamin D deficiency is being linked with bone trouble, lower back pain, heart trouble and now depression. Linking vitamin D deficiency and depression makes a certain intuitive sense to me. Vitamin D is produced in your body when your skin is exposed to light. During winter, many people suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) because of lack of exposure to sunlight. It kind of makes sense to me that there would be a link between vitamin D deficiency and depression (though, as we will see, researchers aren’t certain if vitamin D deficiency causes depression or is a result of depression).
Vitamin D Deficiency in Older Adults
Over 1,200 men and women between the ages of 65 to 95 were participating in a long-term study of aging. As part of that study, they had extensive blood work done include vitamin D levels. Turned out that about 40% of the men and 57% of the women had vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin D Deficiency and Depression
Of all the people in the study, 169 were suffering from minor depression and 26 from major depression. On average, those suffering from depression had vitamin D levels about 14% lower that the others in the study. Now it gets a bit more complicated. The level of a hormone called parathyroid hormone was elevated in those with depression –- 5% higher in the case of minor depression and 33% higher for those with major depression. Parathyroid hormone often increases as vitamin D levels decrease.
Could Vitamin D Deficiency Cause Depression?
It could, we just don’t know for sure. It could also be true that depression causes low vitamin D levels. There could also be something more complicated going on. If vitamin D deficiency caused depression, that would be fantastic news because vitamin D deficiency is easy to treat with increased exposure to sunlight and supplementation.
Source:
Witte J. G. Hoogendijk, MD, PhD; Paul Lips, MD, PhD; Miranda G. Dik, PhD; Dorly J. H. Deeg, PhD; Aartjan T. F. Beekman, MD, PhD; Brenda W. J. H. Penninx, PhD. Depression Is Associated With Decreased 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Increased Parathyroid Hormone Levels in Older Adults. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008;65(5):508-512.
If you see yourself in these symptoms, whether or not you deal with eating disorders, in any way, get some blood work done; check out your levels. It may be a missing puzzle piece needed. You may feel so much better with just a little vitamin D tweaking!
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