Monday, September 28, 2009

Common Signs of Vitamin D Deficiency


Vitamin D insufficiency conditions are among the most standard vitamin deficiency troubles; although the occurrence of this lack has significantly got down over the last decades, it remains here due to certain factors.

Vitamin D is made thanks to the beams of the sun, which provokes its production. You may have heard about the "Sun vitamin", well now you know the reason they name D vitamin like this. Problems with this vitamin often originate because of a lack of information about the causes and the symptoms of vitamin D insufficiency. The patients who are more at risk from suffering the symptoms are small children and expectant adult females.

The symptoms of vitamin D deficiency appear as problems with the bones and muscular tissues. This vitamin is essential in the sense that help our bones and muscular tissues get powerful, so any deficiency of it will develop conditions such as bowed legs and incapacitated lower body movement. These diseases are: osteomalacia, rickets and osteoporosis, and all refer to the identical things but on diverse periods of life.

As well as these patent conditions, there are a series of singular vitamin D deficiency symptoms that must be checked, and oftentimes go overlooked, such as: chronic tiredness, periodontal disease, bowed legs, diabetes type I, tuberculosis, usual pain on muscles, joints and bones; lower levels of calcium, hypertension.

These vitamin D deficiency signs are not selective, meaning that they don't necessarily designate a problem with vitamin D, still, if you feel any of those, have them as warning signs and go see a proper doctor who will assist you running some tests to check your current levels of vitamin D.

The people who run a larger hazard of acquiring the signs of vitamin D insufficiency are people who are going through a period in their lives where vitamin needs are elevated (pregnant adult females and infants), people who don't acquire enough sun exposure (from not going out too much or covering too much of their body, and people who experience this vitamin absorption problems (malabsorption problems can be caused by drugs that interfere with cholesterol, hormones and some variations of antiacids).

Expectant and lactating women must keep in mind to get decent levels of this vitamin to avoid infants with deficiency troubles and diseases. Oftentimes doctors will advocate multivitamin pills designed to fulfill the needs of nursing adult females, but to keep off the signs of D vitamin lack, you must also go out and get healthy sun exposure.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Diseases From Low Vitamin D Levels

Vitamin D is commonly referred to as the “sunshine vitamin” because we get it thanks to the rays of the Sun. Over the last decades we have developed a “fear” of the sun, focusing more in its negative effects, rather than in the positive ones; don’ be afraid of the Sun because it helps us in many ways, instead, beware of EXCESSIVE Sun exposure. As with anything, excess can be dangerous.

When we don’t get enough levels of vitamin D, we will surely develop the vitamin D deficiency diseases which can seriously affect our lives from a young age. For example the disease in children is called rickets and it forms bowed legs, as we don’ have enough vitamins for a healthy bone and muscular development. In adults, it is called osteomalacia and osteoporosis.

Can a Vegan Diet Affect Our Vitamin Levels?

As you may see, we talk about here most of the time about vitamin D deficiency, and its signs and symptoms. This is the only vitamin we acquire through sunshine, the rest of them we get them through our diets. But not all diets provide us with enough vitamin levels; if you are a vegan or vegetarian you may be on a high risk of suffering from a vitamin B12 deficiency problem!

Vitamin B12 has the main responsibility of keeping us safe from anemia problems, but its function is wider than that, so any lack of it will produce symptoms such as weakness, diarrhea, constipation and confusion – among others. This vitamin is primarily acquired through animal food. Vegetables can contain this vitamin but they contain it in small amounts – not enough to keep us safe from a deficiency for long.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Vitamin D Deficiency and Children

The signs of vitamin D deficiency can appear and children and this can have a terrible effect in their lives, since a child will have a poor bone and muscle development. This in turn causes the appearance of rickets which is a common condition among children who have this type of vitamin deficiency.

Children with rickets will develop bowed limbs. In order to avoid this, we must ensure our kids get the proper amounts of vitamins, and this one is not acquired through food but through Sun exposure. Yes, the rays of the Sun are not mean as we have been lead to believe, and the use of sunscreen can greatly reduce the absorption of vitamin D.

Here is a short video produced by Oakland’s Children Hospital that can shed more light to the topic:

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Hair Loss Problems and Vitamins

Every single day we tend to lose 100 hairs, isn’t that amazing? Of course, in some cases they grow back! But what if the majority of them don’t grow back? This could be a difficult situation to live, especially in the case of women where baldness is not so common. It is important to give our bodies all they need in terms of vitamins and nutrition to keep ourselves healthy and without these kind of problems.

After some studies, it has been determined that vitamin deficiency can be one of the leading causes of hair loss, the primary is stress and tension. We could evaluate our nutritional state by following proper examination with a doctor, a good examination will let us see if we have a deficiency and its severity.

Are Medications Interfering With Vitamin Absorption

Medications are supposedly good to our health, but what many people forget is that some medications – specially strong ones – can have negative effects that can leave us having problems with other aspects of our life. Problems with vitamins absorption are stemmed not only from genetic problems but also from our bodies’ interaction with certain types of medicine.

You see, we not only need to get the vitamins inside our body through food or sunshine, but we also need to process it, that’s why an interference with this will cause the appearance of the signs of vitamin deficiencies. If you suspect that is your case, it would be a great idea to go an talk to your doctor about this problem and know what you can do with your current medication. Maybe this is what causing you the signs of vitamin D deficiency.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Vitamin D Deficiency Symptoms

Although vitamin deficiency problems are not commonly found in people, there are certain types of deficiencies that are more present than others. One of these is the Vitamin D deficiency. Unlike other vitamins, which we get primarily from food sources, we get Vitamin D from the rays of the Sun, that is why it is often called the “sunshine vitamin”.

People who are at more risk of developing vitamin D deficiency symptoms include pregnant women, babies and small children, people who don’t get enough sun exposure and people who have problems processing the Vitamin. Let’s take a look at these mentioned symptoms:

Depression
Tuberculosis
Chronic fatigue
Diabetes Type I
Hypertension
Muscle, bone and joint pain
Bowed limbs

Since this is a Vitamin that has to do with muscular and bone development, it will affect the limbs and I children it will lead to the appearance of rickets; in adults osteomalacia and osteoporosis.