Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency
Vitamin D deficiency can cause fatigue and muscle and joint pain. If left untreated, it can lead to muscle weakness and bone pain.
Vitamin D deficiency can cause stress fractures in the bones, especially in the legs, hips, and pelvis, as well as osteomalacia, a condition that makes the bones soft and brittle. Vitamin D deficiency can eventually lead to osteoporosis, a serious disease that makes bones brittle and prone to fracture. In children, vitamin D deficiency can also lead to a similar condition known as filets, which causes bone deformities and weakness.
How can vitamin D deficiency occur?
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Most of our vitamin D is produced when our skin is exposed to sunlight. Therefore, we are more likely to be vitamin D deficient during the autumn and winter months, when there are fewer hours of daylight and we are more likely to cover our skin with thicker clothing. Therefore, it is recommended to take a daily vitamin D supplement from October to March.
Some people are also at greater risk of developing vitamin D deficiency, including those who cover their skin for religious, cultural, or other reasons throughout the year, those with darker skin, particularly people of African, Caribbean, or South Asian descent (higher levels of melanin, the pigment in the skin, meaning that sunlight can be less well absorbed), those who are housebound or too frail or ill to be outside much of the time, those who spend most of their time indoors, such as people in a care home, hospital or prison, those who regularly use a high factor sunscreen on all exposed skin, and those who live in a city with high levels of pollution or lots of tall buildings, both of which can block out sunlight If you think you are at risk of vitamin D deficiency, you may need to take a daily vitamin D supplement all year round.
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