It’s important to know that your body might not get enough vitamins D and minerals even before you feel sick. This happens because of your eating habits. Junk foods are often chosen over fruits and veggies because they’re cheaper. It’s sad that fast foods are more popular than healthy foods, which is worrying all around the world.
Many people lack Vitamin D, even though it’s found in sunlight and some foods. This lack can be because of poor nutrition or health issues like kidney problems or hormonal imbalances. Doctors look into other reasons if supplements don’t help.
People who don’t get much sunlight, like those in crowded cities, might not have enough Vitamin D in their blood. You only need a short time in the morning sun, about 10-15 minutes, on your hands, face, and feet.
1. Unexplained Aches and Pains
Vitamin D is super important for your bones because it helps control calcium and phosphorus levels in your blood, which are crucial for strong bones and muscles.
If you don’t have enough Vitamin D, your bones can become weak and soft. This is really bad for babies and can cause a condition called rickets. Babies with rickets have legs that bend outwards and their wrist and rib bones can look frayed in X-rays.
People with low Vitamin D levels might feel muscle aches, especially in their thighs and arms. Since Vitamin D helps with calcium levels, having too little can make it hard for your muscles to work properly. So, you might struggle to stand up from sitting or lift heavy things.
2. You have Chronic Kidney Disease
As it has been already stated above certain ailments like ‘chronic kidney disease’ can produce vitamin D deficiency in your blood. This happens because of the form of this nutrient which our skin absorbs through sunlight in an inactive one. Enzymes in the kidney are responsible for tuning on vitamin D, which then gets converted into its active form.
The active vitamin D metabolite then regulates the absorption of calcium and phosphorus from the kidneys. Rising levels of calcium and phosphorus trigger a hormone called ‘parathyroid hormone‘, which then works to incorporate them into bones. People with long-standing kidney diseases are often checked for vitamin D deficiency, since an ailed kidney becomes unable to convert this nutrient into its active metabolite.
Chronic kidney disease could be the result of numerous factors, most common among which include post-viral infections and prolonged obstruction due to stone formation in urinary pathway. Many people develop kidney diseases owing to the presence of other co-morbidities such as diabetes and hypertension.
In such patients, if vitamin D receptors are found to be working fine, a prepared formula of vitamin D is provided to overcome the deficiency.
3. You’re Overweight
This next sign of not having enough Vitamin D might be the worst one: it can make you gain extra weight. So if you’re getting heavier even though you’re eating well, it’s worth checking if your diet is giving you all the nutrients you need, including enough Vitamin D.
A study looked at 4600 older women and found that those with low Vitamin D gained about 2 pounds more than those with enough of it.
Another study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women who followed a diet and exercise plan to lose weight and also took Vitamin D supplements lost more weight than those who didn’t.
4. Your Head Sweats
A frequently sweaty head especially in babies is a pretty strong indicator of vitamin D deficiency. Strains of sweat dribbling from the forehead and that too with much frequency must be considered and not ignored.
But having a sweaty head all the time doesn’t always mean a Vitamin D problem. It could also happen because of other issues like hyperthyroidism. If a baby has this symptom, doctors need to check for other signs of low Vitamin D. Also, ask the baby’s mom if she keeps the baby wrapped in warm clothes for too long.
Dr. Michael Holick has talked about this strange sign of low Vitamin D levels many times. So, if you’re always sweaty, it might be because your body isn’t getting enough of this important nutrient.
5. You Catch Infections Easily
When you fall short of adequate vitamin D levels in your blood, your bones and muscles are not the only things you must be worried about. Your immune system gets variably affected owing to a deficiency of this nutrient, though it is not specific. The nutrient keeps in check two important mechanisms of fighting off an infection: eradication of inflammation and stimulation of immune cells.
With depleting vitamin D levels, one is more susceptible towards the development of respiratory infections. Which is why flu and cold is more commonly found in people with vitamin D deficiency. Conversely, this deficiency is also a consequence of chronic inflammatory conditions.
So next time you observe that you are developing a cold too often, check for other signs and risks of vitamin D deficiency in your body. People with adequate levels of vitamin D in their blood are found to have lower risks of developing rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes mellitus and multiple sclerosis.
6. You Suffer from Low Mood
Besides your bones, muscles, and skin, your brain and nerves can also be affected if you don’t have enough Vitamin D. Feeling down or sad a lot is a common sign of this.
Vitamin D can make you feel happy because it helps your body make a hormone called serotonin. Serotonin helps you relax and feel good. When your Vitamin D levels drop, your serotonin levels drop too. And when serotonin levels are low in your brain, you might feel depressed or have low moods a lot.
Hence, now you should be aware of the fact that depression is not just a consequence of social pressures and emotional breakdowns, but also of nutritional deficiencies. This could probably answer our question of why low moods occur more during winter. Moreover, sunlight is also linked with good mood and positivity.
The upper safe limit of daily vitamin D intake must be 10,000 I.U., and anything below that can make you prone to develop related symptoms.
Ladies! If your low moods are increasing during your PMS, find symptoms of nutritional deficiencies in your body, especially those which are linked to vitamin D insufficiency.
7. Changes in Fingernail
When you have low vitamin D levels, you will consequently develop calcium deficiency within no time. With depleted calcium levels in blood, the basic nail structure gets affected. In this case, the nails may go soft and may even deform in severe conditions. Peeling and cracking of the nails may also occur in response to vitamin D deficiency.
8. Reproductive Problems
Now that issue is a pretty serious one. Vitamin D deficiency is likely to affect one’s reproductive health. The logic here is quite simple. This hormone takes an important part in the formation of cholesterol. Cholesterol in turn is the core component of sexual hormones. Hence, a deficiency of vitamin D will indirectly influence the formation of sex hormones in a person.
9. Digestive Difficulties
Ailments that relate to your gut can produce vitamin D deficiency in your body, owing to malabsorption, since the intestines too play a crucial part in the absorption of this nutrient from your meals. The fact that vitamin D is much more designated as a ‘hormone’ rather than a nutrient or a vitamin is that, its absence brings about a wide variety of pathological changes in the body, including improper digestion.
We have vitamin D receptors throughout our gut. This hormone also plays a role in the formation of insulin by pancreatic cells, which may explain why its deficiency leads to an increased risk of insulin-dependent diabetes. Insulin plays a vital role in the absorption of glucose and amino acids by the liver and muscle cells.
Low levels of vitamin D may also lead to delayed emptying of food from the stomach, which can produce notable symptoms such as bloating. Hence, it is crucial for you to obtain a vitamin D containing diet.
10. Hair and Scalp Changes
When you don’t have enough Vitamin D, your hair and scalp can also start to have problems. Research shows that women, in particular, might experience hair loss because of low Vitamin D levels.
A study by H. Rasheed and E. Hamdy, along with their team from Cairo University, looked at women who were losing hair in patterns or shedding more than usual. They found that these women had lower levels of Vitamin D compared to others without hair issues.
11. Night Blindness and Eye Changes
Just like vitamin A, vitamin D is also essential for your eye sight. You might be amused to know that adequate vitamin D levels in blood parallel good vision. Since the hormone reduces unnecessary inflammation, it protects the integrity of all the blood vessels, including those of the eye.
A research work showed that vitamin D supplementation in lab rats resulted in decreased retinal inflammation and enhanced vision.
12. Thrush
Candida infections are pretty common, especially in women who often get vaginal yeast infections. When this infection happens in the mouth, it’s called ‘thrush’. It’s more common in people with weak immune systems, like kids and older adults.
Vitamin D has something called ‘Cathelicidin’, which helps fight these tiny candida bugs that cause diseases. A recent study found that people with thrush and other yeast infections in their bodies have low levels of this hormone.
13. Slow Wound Healing
We all know very well that when a wound takes time much longer than normal to heal, there might be some underlying nutritional deficiency that might be producing the condition. Vitamin K and vitamin A are the most re-known ones in this case. However, seldom do we give importance to the role of vitamin D in wound healing process.
Studies have demonstrated that when a wound occurs, it utilizes too much vitamin D. And longer sustaining wounds can also produce vitamin D insufficiency.
14. Skin Problems
Skin problems are a major manifestation of vitamin A deficiency, and so is the case with insufficiency of vitamin D too.
Dermatological conditions such as psoriasis are frequently treated with creams containing this hormone, which indicates that it has much to do with the health of your skin. Moreover, conditions as common as acne and as severe as eczema also employ the use of vitamin D containing topicals.
Also Read: What Causes Milia – Milialar, Milium Cyst
15. Mouth Pain
Mouth ulcers, sore teeth, gingivitis, etc. all of these oral conditions are likely to take place in vitamin D deficiency. Less vitamin D equals less calcium, which shall ultimately affect the tooth structure. Moreover, since this hormone casts an anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial action in the body, hence, mouth ulcers and other infectious oral ailments are likely to occur, which may produce mouth pain of varying degrees.
