Many adults are deficient in vitamins and minerals in their diet that are important to living a healthy life. While it isn’t difficult to eat better for most people, it’s often something that gets neglected that may lead to more serious health concerns over time that can affect your hair among other things.
The vitamin D deficiency disease that develops in adults is known as: Osteomalacia. The vitamin D deficiency disease that develops in children is known as: Rickets.
Osteomalacia vs Rickets
Rickets typically begins in childhood between the age of 6 and 36 months when child growth is occurring. Rickets was more prevalent in the early 20th century that it is now. You rarely hear the word rickets mentioned anymore as a result of us (generally) eating better and having a better understanding of how to deal with it.
Osteomalacia occurs in adults and manifests itself as a softening of bones and is usually due to a severe vitamin D shortage. A blood test will determine if you have osteomalacia.
Vitamin D Deficiency Symptoms
A wide variety of vitamin D deficiency symptoms exist including the following:
- Frequent sickness and/or infection and inability for wounds to heal
- Chronic fatigue and tiredness
- Pain particularly in the back, bones and joints
- Hair loss
- Depression and/or mood change and irritability
- Bone loss
among others.
Many of the symptoms above are common (fatigue, back pain, hair loss) and may have nothing to with vitamin D deficiency or osteomalacia so when in doubt, consult your doctor to be sure.
Who Is At Risk For Osteomalacia
- Vegetarians and vegans who consume no foods that are high in vitamin D (see below).
- People who avoid the sunlight to a significant degree.
- People who are obese and those who have undergone gastric bypass surgery.
- People with dark skin. Dark skin inhibits the body’s ability to produce vitamin D from sunlight.
- Those aged 65 or older. As we get older, our skin is less able to synthesize vitamin D.
- Sufferers of inflammatory bowel disease
among others. And if you have a combination of these concerns, your risk may be even higher.
How To Treat Osteomalacia
When caught early enough, osteomalacia is generally treated with vitamin D, calcium and possibly phosphate in oral form. Vitamin D can also be prescribed by your doctor by injection if necessary.
In more severe cases where you have underlying conditions that are causing you to have a vitamin D deficiency, another treatment may be prescribed.
How To Get More Vitamin D
Sunlight Exposure
Getting vitamin D exposure from exposure to sunlight doesn’t necessarily mean tanning for hours. A report suggests that as little as 13 minutes of midday sunlight 3 times per week will suffice.
Vitamin D Tablets
As mentioned above, vitamin D in tablet form can increase your intake. Check with your doctor rather than guessing how much you need and to ensure – as mentioned above – that you don’t have an underlying condition causing you the deficiency problem in the first place. While you want to ensure you’re getting enough vitamin D, you also don’t want to over consume it as there are side effects to taking too much.
Improve Your Diet
Unfortunately, there aren’t a significant number of foods that contain vitamin D at a significant level.
Foods that are high in vitamin D include fatty fishes like salmon, tuna and mackerel.
Lesser sources include beef liver, cheese and egg yolk.
Depending on where you live, you may also find some foods that are fortified with vitamin D ie. it’s manually added to foods as part of the packaging or manufacturing process. Milk in the US and Canada is fortified with vitamin D for example. You may also find breakfast cereal fortified with vitamin D, too.
So if you avoid milk products and are a vegetarian or vegan, you may be more likely to have a vitamin D deficiency due to your diet.
How Long Does It Take To Correct A Vitamin D Deficiency
According to one study in 17 people, taking vitamin D with the largest meal of the day increased vitamin D blood levels by about 50% after just 2–3 months (7Trusted Source).
Healthline
Vitamin D doesn’t dissolve in water and is thus better absorbed with food. Hence the instruction above to consume it with the biggest meal of the day.
Conclusion
- The Vitamin D deficiency disease that develops in adults is known as: osteomalacia.
- The Vitamin D deficiency disease that develops in children is known as: rickets.
- You can increase your Vitamin D level with exposure to sunlight, through a vitamin D supplement and through better nutrition.
- There aren’t many foods naturally high in vitamin D but fatty fish like salmon, tuna and mackerel contain high levels of the vitamin.
- Some foods like milk and breakfast cereals may be fortified with vitamin D.
- Healthline describes how you can “safely” get your Vitamin D from sunlight exposure.
- People who are more likely to have a vitamin D deficiency are the elderly, vegans and vegetarians, people with dark skin, those who avoid sunlight, and others.
- Vitamin D deficiency also contributes to hair loss.
Have you suffered from vitamin D deficiency or osteomalacia? Let us know how you dealt with it in the comments below!