Vitamin D Deficiency
By: Tana Mardian
Besides the general good mood and other positive effects associated with sunshine, our daily sun exposure also has important implications on our health — namely, on vitamin D.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, meaning that it is absorbed with the fats we consume in our diet and is stored in our fatty tissue. Vitamin D insufficiency is a worldwide concern, with almost half of the world’s population having inadequate amounts of vitamin D (Nair & Maseeh, 2012). About 39% of the United States population is vitamin D deficient (Parva et al., 2018).
Adequate vitamin D is important to our overall health and is an essential component of the immune, reproductive, muscular, skeletal, and integumentary systems (Calvo et al., 2005). With receptors for vitamin D in a multitude of organs, inadequate vitamin D is associated with higher mortality, possibly linked to health conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes (Autier & Gandini, 2007). Furthermore, 50% to 90% of our vitamin D is taken in through sun exposure to the skin, while the remaining is sourced through our diet. In preventing vitamin D deficiency, we must get at least 20 minutes of sunshine with over 40% of our skin exposed per day (Sizar et al., 2022). So, what can we do to combat low vitamin D levels.
Make an effort to get daily sun exposure when the sun is still out, if possible. If you have time in the morning, you might choose to enjoy your coffee or tea outdoors during the sunrise. If you have 10 minutes at the end of your lunch break, try to go outside for a quick walk. With this, it is important to note that those with dark skin tones have a natural sun protection that inhibits vitamin D production. Therefore, those with darker skin need 3-5 times longer exposure to sunlight to produce the same amount of vitamin D as someone with a lighter skin tone (Nair & Maseeh, 2012).
Consume foods high in vitamin D. While few foods contain high amounts of vitamin D, making a point to include these foods in our diets during winter months can help prevent a vitamin D deficiency. These foods include fatty fish, such as salmon and tuna. For a vegetarian diet, egg yolks, mushrooms, and fortified orange juice as well as cereals are great options to get more vitamin D in our diets (NIH ODS, 2022).
Take a supplement. With our busy schedules and routines set in place, a supplement can be helpful in staving off a deficiency. Vitamin D supplements often come in two forms: either D2 or D3. While either supplement is likely to be helpful, D3 supplements have been shown to more effectively raise and maintain vitamin D levels (Wilson et al., 2017). Before jumping into a supplement, make sure to speak with your primary care doctor about a high-quality supplement that is the proper dosage for your needs.
Reference List:
Autier, P., & Gandini, S. (2007). Vitamin D supplementation and total mortality: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Archives of Internal Medicine, 167(16), 1730–1737. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.167.16.1730
Calvo, M. S., Whiting, S. J., & Barton, C. N. (2005). Vitamin D intake: A global perspective of current status. The Journal of Nutrition, 135(2), 310–316. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/135.2.310
Nair, R., & Maseeh, A. (2012). Vitamin D: The “sunshine” vitamin. Journal of Pharmacology & Pharmacotherapeutics, 3(2), 118–126. https://doi.org/10.4103/0976-500X.95506
Parva, N. R., Tadepalli, S., Singh, P., Qian, A., Joshi, R., Kandala, H., Nookala, V. K., & Cheriyath, P. (2018). Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and associated risk factors in the US population (2011-2012). Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.2741
Sizar O, Khare S, Goyal A, et al. Vitamin D Deficiency. [Updated 2022 Jul 27]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532266/
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2022, August). Office of dietary supplements - vitamin D. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Retrieved December 11, 2022, from https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/
Wilson, L. R., Tripkovic, L., Hart, K. H., & Lanham-New, S. A. (2017). Vitamin D deficiency as a public health issue: Using Vitamin D or vitamin D in future fortification strategies. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 76(3), 392–399. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0029665117000349