Vitamin D
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Symptoms. Vitamin D deficiency can cause muscle aches, weakness, and bonepain in people of all ages. Muscle spasms (tetany) may be the first sign of rickets in infants. They are caused by a low calcium level in the blood in people with severevitamin D deficiency.
Human breast milk contains only small amounts of vitamin D.
Vitamin D is stored mainly in the liver. Vitamin D2 and D3 are not active in the body. Both forms must be processed (metabolized) by the liver and kidneys into an active form called active vitamin D or calcitriol. This active form promotes absorption of calcium and phosphorus from the intestine.
Calcium and phosphorus, which are minerals, are incorporated into bones to make them strong and dense. Thus, calcitriol is necessary for the formation, growth, and repair of bones.
Requirements for vitamin D increase as people age.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin. It dissolves in fat and must be eaten with some fat to be absorbed.
Vitamin D Deficiency
supplements of vitamin D can help prevent deficiency when exposure to sunlight is inadequate.
In vitamin D deficiency, the body absorbs less calcium and phosphate. Because not enough calcium and phosphate are available to maintain healthy bones, vitamin D deficiency may result in a bone disorder called rickets in children or osteomalacia in adults. In osteomalacia, the body does not incorporate enough calcium and other minerals into bones, resulting in weak bones.
Vitamin D deficiency results in a low calcium level in blood. To try to increase the low calcium level, the body may produce more parathyroid hormone. However, as the parathyroid hormone level becomes high (a condition called hyperparathyroidism), the hormone draws calcium out of bone to increase the calcium level in blood.
Both calcium and phosphate are necessary to maintain healthy bones. As a result, bones are weakened.
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