Is vitamin D deficiency a big deal?

Vitamin D deficiency can lead to a loss of bone density, which can contribute to osteoporosis and fractures (broken bones). Severe vitamin D deficiency can also lead to other diseases. In children, it can cause rickets. Rickets is a rare disease that causes the bones to become soft and bend.

How do you know if you are vitamin D deficient?

Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency can include muscle weakness, pain, fatigue and depression. To get enough D, look to certain foods, supplements, and carefully planned sunlight….Signs and symptoms might include:

1. Fatigue.
2. Bone pain.
3. Muscle weakness, muscle aches, or muscle cramps.
4. Mood changes, like depression.

Why does vitamin D make people happy?

Vitamin D lowers one kind of inflammation, which has been linked to suicide. Many parts of the brain, including those involved with depression, contain receptors for Vitamin D. It may increase the available serotonin, the way the SSRIs do.

Does skin color affect vitamin D?

Studies have shown that individuals with darker skin pigmentation require longer or more intense ultraviolet radiation exposure to synthesize sufficient levels of vitamin D. In other words, if you have darker skin, you tend to make less vitamin D in the sun than people with lighter skin.

Does dark skin block vitamin D?

Melanin is the pigment that provides skin color, and individuals with darker skin have more of it than those with lighter skin. Having more melanin reduces your ability to synthesize vitamin D from the sun, resulting in lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, according to the ODS.

What fruit is rich in vitamin D?

What part of your body absorbs vitamin D?

The vitamin D that is consumed in food or as a supplement is absorbed in the part of the small intestine immediately downstream from the stomach. Stomach juices, pancreatic secretions, bile from the liver, the integrity of the wall of the intestine — they all have some influence on how much of the vitamin is absorbed.