Severe vitamin d deficiency can cause osteomalacia in adults and rickets in children. Lesser degrees of deficiency in diet may lead to a burning sensation in the mouth and throat, weight loss, loss of appetite, visual problems, diarrhea and insomnia.

People at higher risk

• those with intake below recommended levels.
• those who have limited sunlight exposure.
• those whose kidney cannot change the vitamin to the active form. ” kidney disorder”
• those with inadequate absorption of the vitamin from their digestive tract. ” GIT disorder”

Symptoms of rickets

• Bowed legs and bowed arms. The bowed appearance is due to the softening of bones, and their bending if the bones are weight-bearing.
• Particular bony bumps on the ribs called rachitic rosary (beadlike prominences at the junction of the ribs with their cartilages)
• Knock-knees.
• Seizures may also occasionally occur in a child with rickets, because of reduced levels of dissolved calcium in the bloodstream.

Symptoms of osteomalacia

• Easy fatigue.
• Pain in the back, ribs, and hips. Some of the pain in osteomalacia is caused by slight cracks in the bone (the medical term is ‘partial fractures’), which are visible on x-rays.
• Bone softness.
• Muscle weakness.
• Difficult getting up from a chair or climbing steps.
• Abnormal walk.
• Bone fractures.

Vitamin d facts

Vitamin d functions

The most important function of the D vitamin is to help control how much calcium is absorbed from food. The majority of the calcium is used to build strong teeth and bones but it is also needed to send messages along the nerves and to help muscles, such as the heart muscles, to contract. It is the D vitamin that ensures that there is always sufficient calcium in the blood to perform these tasks. Other functions that require the D vitamin relate to the immune system and it is believed that it is also a contributing factor in reducing the risk of contracting cancer and, in particular, colon cancer.

Vitamin d sources

The D vitamin is the only vitamin that is not obtained from foods that are consumed. Instead, the D vitamin is actually obtained by sunlight on the skin. There has been a lot of media coverage about the dangers of getting too much sun but it is essential that the skin is exposed to sunlight to obtain the recommended daily allowance of the D vitamin. In reality, the amount of time that a person has to spend in the sun to receive a sufficient dose of the D vitamin is extremely small and just a few minutes a day will be sufficient and not have any adverse effects from the amount of ultra-violet light received.

Does food contain vitamin d?

Even though the majority of the D vitamin is formed through the exposure of the skin to sunlight “vitamin d3″, there are some foods that do contain some of the vitamin naturally. This form of the D vitamin is known as vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol. This is used in the same way as the other D vitamins and is the type used to create the majority of D vitamin supplements.