Wellness Special Report: The Dangers of Vitamin D Deficiency

According to the National Institutes of Health, approximately 41.6% of the US population has a vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D deficiencies can be linked to lower energy levels, and immune system function as well as a number of diseases, including multiple sclerosis, IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) and cancer. Are you getting enough vitamin D for optimal health?

How the Body Makes and Uses Vitamin D

Despite being classified as a vitamin, the body actually processes and uses D more like a skin hormone. There is not a cell in your body without a receptor for this important vitamin, and its presence (or absence) has an effect on almost every system in the body.

Vitamin D is fondly referred to as “vitamin sunshine,” and for good reason. While you can get vitamin D from fortified dairy sources and certain fishes, and even mushrooms, it is very difficult to get the amount you need from food sources. Spending time in the sun allows the body to convert cholesterol into a substance known as pre-vitamin D3. The body takes the pre-vitamin D3, turns it into D3 and then sends it to the kidneys and liver, where it is synthesized into its final form, calcitriol.

Important Classifications of Vitamin D

Vitamin D can be considered an endocrine hormone. Sure, it’s important for strong bones and muscles. But it’s also critical for maintaining mineral balances and for regulating the growth of different tissues within the body — both normal tissues and diseased.

Getting Vitamin D

There are actually two types of vitamin D, D2 and D3. D2 is found in some mushroom sources. Primary emphasis has been placed on D3 because it is easier for the body to convert and raises overall D levels in the blood at least twice as fast as D2.

The RDI (recommended daily intake) of vitamin D is generally 400-800 IU (international units). A healthy human should have a blood level ranging from 20-30 ng/ml of vitamin D. Some studies have found the lower doses to be insufficient, suggesting that even healthy adults need at least 1100-1600 IU per day to maintain sufficient levels. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends taking anywhere from 1000-4000 IU per day for optimal results. Those interested in raising their levels should consult a physician before taking anything higher.

The War on Sunshine

So why are we so deficient? We spend a lot less time in the sun than we used to. Kids used to play outside and adults spent a good chunk of their time in the yard or garden. These days, we’re busier and spend more time indoors than ever before, decreasing our sun exposure.

Vitamin D Deficiency

Risk Factors

• Lack of sun exposure during activity
• Age
• Skin color
• Obesity
• Diet low in vit. D sources
• Geographic location
• Sunscreen use

Then we have the war on sunshine. While the sun’s UV rays are exactly what our bodies need to produce vitamin D, those same rays can cause us to burn and may even increase our risk of skin cancer. Yup, you read that correctly. Not getting enough sun can reduce vitamin D levels and lead to diseases like cancer, but getting too much sun can increase our risk as well. Add the use of sunscreens to the mix and it seems nearly impossible to absorb what you need through your skin.

The color of your skin further complicates matters. Melanin is produced by the body to protect it from too much exposure to the sun’s rays, giving us a tan. Obviously, the more melanin you have, the darker your skin. Darker skin is a better protective barrier against the damage UV rays can cause, but it also may inhibit the absorption your body needs to produce vitamin D.

Signs of a Vitamin D Deficiency

A vitamin D deficiency can creep up slowly. Many symptoms can be easily attributed to other very common diseases or disorders. This ultimately may result in your doctor treating the symptoms but not the underlying cause.

Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency can include:

• Constant fatigue, especially during the day.
• Bone, joint, and muscle pain
• A vibrating feeling in the hip area, as if a cell phone is buzzing in your pocket
• Bone loss and low bone density
• Hair loss
• Constant illness due to decreased immune function
• Slow wound healing
• Mental health disorders
• High blood pressure

Symptoms like these aren’t uncommon, so it’s important to ask your doctor to run bloodwork to check your vitamin D levels and a regular blood work panel to rule out any other health complications that are making you feel unwell.

Diseases Linked to Vitamin D Deficiency

As mentioned, vitamin D deficiency can contribute to a number of unpleasant health symptoms. Chronic skin conditions, diabetes, and osteoporosis are all common conditions caused by low blood levels. Low vitamin D levels can also lead to other much more serious disorders.

A 2014 Neurology study linked severe vitamin D deficiency to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The study ultimately found that people with decreased vitamin D levels were 53% more likely to develop dementia. In the test subject, the higher their risk of developing not just any form of dementia, but Alzheimer’s specifically seemed proportional to their vitamin D deficiency.

Circulation Research published a study in 2014 connecting vitamin D deficiency and heart disease. Lower levels seem associated with the development of high blood pressure and may increase stroke risk.

While research from the Clinical Cancer Journal doesn’t show that a vitamin D deficiency actually causes prostate cancer, they did find that those with a deficiency may be more likely to have a more aggressive form of the disease. Moreover, while this was true for white men, the risk was nearly double for African-American men.

How to Get More Vitamin D

There are three ways to get more vitamin D: fortified foods or foods in which it naturally occurs, supplementation and more time in the sun.

More time in the sun should be approached with caution and in some cases is not recommended as the risks of skin damage and the potential for cancer may outweigh the benefits. However, sunshine in moderation can certainly help. That means taking a 20-minute walk in the sun can help boost vitamin D levels, but laying out, slathered in baby oil for hours has the potential to do more harm than good.

Studies have found that anywhere from 5-10 minutes per day of indoor UV light therapy was capable of increasing vitamin D levels in the blood over the course of just 2 months. UV lights have been found to be especially beneficial in cases where a person has a disorder like cystic fibrosis or short bowel disease — medical conditions that prevent the proper absorption of vitamin D from food. UV lamps are widely available for purchase from medical suppliers or on sites like Amazon.

While it is difficult to eat enough food to get the vitamin D levels you need, adding more D-rich foods to your diet can still increase your odds of avoiding a deficiency.

Some healthy ways to get extra vitamin D include:

• Egg yolks
• Mushrooms
• Wild-caught salmon (farm-raised contains 75% less vitamin D than wild)
• Sardines, herring, halibut, and mackerel
• Cod liver oil
• Oysters
• Tuna (canned light tuna is better than white and contains less mercury)
• Shrimp
• Fortified dairy products
• Fortified orange juice
• Fortified cereals

Even if you were to eat a serving of wild-caught salmon, which contains an average of 1000 IU per serving, you can’t eat oily fish three times per day, seven days a week. You’ll still need to supplement with other foods, all of which are far lower in vitamin D content. The most efficient way to boost your vitamin D intake to the recommended levels and to maintain a healthy blood level may be by taking a supplement.

Vitamin D Supplement Cautions

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testing for vitamin D deficiency increased more than 83x between 2000 and 2010. Many of the tests showed averages in the 20 and 30 nanograms per milliliter range, but the labs set their own ranges for what is considered normal and in many cases marked those who were within a healthy range as insufficient. This type of inadequate reporting may lead to unnecessary supplementation and can increase the potential for an overdose.

What happens if you take too much vitamin D? The levels in your blood will rise. This isn’t a problem if you stay within the “normal” 20-30 range or the 40-80 ng/ml range recommended by the Vitamin D Council.

But, while rare, higher blood levels have the potential to become toxic. The New England Journal of Medicine reported on a case with a woman who was taking over 186,000 IU of vitamin D daily for 3 months due to an error the distributor made when formulating the supplement. She became very ill with symptoms including fatigue, nausea, a change in mental status, slurred speech, and a variety of other symptoms.

Elevated vitamin D levels may cause your body to absorb too much calcium, leading to excess urination, increased thirst, mental distress and GI symptoms. Moreover, too much vitamin D can cause diarrhea, vomiting or a loss of appetite — or, even more concerning, bone loss due to low levels of vitamin K and even kidney complications.

Another Concern

Certain drugs can interact with vitamin D. Talk to your doctor first if you take steroids (like prednisone), weight loss drugs (like Alli), or cholesterol-lowering drugs (like Questran) and regardless of your current prescriptions, check in and ask about whether or not you may need more (or less) vitamin D supplementation because of your medications.

Summing Up the Vitamin D Findings

• Vitamin D deficiencies are common enough to consider adding a vitamin D supplement to your diet.
• Ask your doctor, nutritionist, or dietitian for a micronutrient test such as the ones offered by https://www.spectracell.com/
• Review your current medications with your doctor to determine if they are disrupting vitamin D metabolism.
• Get more direct sunshine whenever possible.
• Consider buying a full spectrum indoor light bulb.
• Add more foods high in vitamin D into your diet as well.

Don’t ignore the symptoms associated with low levels of Vitamin D. Supplementation can reverse a deficiency, reduce risks and symptoms leading to a more energized life.

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