Information about vitamin D and its benefits can be found everywhere – books, magazines, the Internet. One of the most commonly quoted statements is that the best source of vitamin d is the sunshine. If so, how can we explain that a great part of the population in USA suffers from vitamin D deficiency?
In this article, we are going to discuss more about the causes of vitamin D deficiency.
1- A great number of employees spend their time in the office where there is no direct sunlight. They are constantly under artificial light.
2- Geographical location of the place you live in plays a key role here. People living closer to the equator have lower chances to experience vitamin D deficiency.
3- There are many foods fortified with vitamin D but getting the daily dose of vitamin D from food can be quite difficult.
4- Because the ozone layer gets more damaged as time goes, most people use sun block creams every day. They do this to protect their skin but at the same time the sun block creams prevent our skin to start synthesizing vitamin D from the sun. This is actually a big problem, because we need to expose our skin to sunlight in order to get vitamin D but that the same time we have to protect our skin from the sun because it causes damage to our skin cells.
5- As we get older, our body loses the ability to convert the UV rays to vitamin D and at the same time our body needs much more vitamin D than before.
6- People with dark pigmented skin need more sunlight to absorb the same amount of vitamin D than people with lighter skin.
Recent studies have shown that since we get less vitamin D from the sunlight it is necessary to start using vitamin D supplements. It is not expensive to purchase vitamin D supplements, but before you start using them, it is necessary to talk to your doctor first. There are several simple tests, which can determine your current vitamin D levels and accordingly, the right dosage you have to take. Please remember, never use vitamin supplements on your own. If you take them for a longer period of time in high doses, there are great chances that you will experience some vitamin D overdose symptoms, which can lead to some severe health complications. So, visit your doctor today and start taking care of your health now.