Vitamin D Deficiency

You need Vitamin D in order to absorb Calcium from your diet.  Without enough vitamin D your body will steal Calcium from your bones, not add Calcium to your bones.  Low Vitamin D is tthe most common cause of Osteoporosis.  But vitamin D is needed for much more than just your bones.

We now know that Vitamin D Deficiency can cause: neuropathy (numbness and tingling), poor balance and co-ordination, poor muscle strength, fibromyalgia (widespread burning pain), depression and the “winter blues”.

SADD (seasonal affect depressive disorder) or the “winter blues” is thought by some researchers to be the result of worsening Vitamin D Deficiency through the winter, when the sun is too low to produce any vitamin D.  My office became a much more pleasant place to work in the winter after we all started taking Vitamin D Supplements.

Cardiologists have discovered about 20 cardiac issues made worse by vitamin D deficiency.  Doctors treating women for breast cancer have found a much higher survival rate in those women with Optimal Levels for Vitamin D.

Vitamin D is important for the immune system.  Researchers strongly suspect, but have not yet proven, that adequate Vitamin D helps prevent several cancers, including breast, colon and prostate.

If you do not meet your daily vitamin D needs, you will not have an optimal level of vitamin D.  The ONLY way to be certain that you do not have a Vitamin D Deficiency is to get a Test for Vitamin D Level.

Jay Ginther, MD

2008 / Revised November 2010

Categorised in: Bone Health, Nutrition