Diagnosing the reason for muscle pain can be difficult. Exercise may be the most common cause, and perhaps the first thing most people consider. But a number of medications, such as the statins used for high cholesterol, and diseases, such as fibromyalgia, and even mineral deficiencies can contribute to aching muscles. The one vitamin known to cause muscle aches when deficient is vitamin D.
About Muscle Pains
Muscle pain -- the medical term is myalgia -- is common and can involve not only muscle tissue but the soft tissues that connect bones, muscles and organs: ligaments, tendons and fascia. While muscle pain is commonly related to overuse or injury from exercise or work that is physically demanding, it can also be caused by chronic tension or some infections, such as the flu. But myalgias can also result from a lack of vitamin D.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is actually a hormone that humans manufacture from sunlight or obtain from a few foods, such as salmon, mackerel and egg yolks. Vitamin D is essential for the body to use calcium, which is the most abundant mineral in the body. Muscles do not function properly if calcium levels are low, and the result can be painful cramps or the less severe myalgias. Vitamin D deficiency in children causes rickets, of which the initial symptom is often muscle pains or spasms. In adults, vitamin D deficiency results in osteomalacia, or softened bones; again, muscle and bone pains are common with this disorder.
Research
The Linus Pauling Institute reports several studies in which vitamin D deficiency caused muscle weakness and pain. One was a study of Arab and Danish women living in Denmark, where low winter sunlight levels can cause vitamin D deficiency. In another study, from the University of Minnesota Medical School, G. A. Plotnikoff and J. M. Quigley reported that of 150 patients with persistent, non-specific musculoskeletal pain, 93 percent had deficient levels of vitamin D. Jill Benson, Anne Wilson, Nigel Stocks and Nicole Moulding reported in the April 2006 issue of the "Medical Journal of Australia" that nearly all patients with muscle pain in a population of aboriginal Australians had a vitamin D level below the normal value.
Prevention
The prevention of vitamin D deficiency, according to the Linus Pauling Institute, requires an intake of 800 to 1000 mg a day for adults living in temperate climates. Children and young adults who spend a short time outside two to three times a week should be able to make all the vitamin D they require, but the elderly, who have higher vitamin D requirements, may need supplements. During the winter period in the more southern or northern latitudes -- 40 degrees north or south of the equator -- sunlight may be insufficient and supplementation or an increase in food sources may be necessary. The Institute recommends 2,000 IU daily in adults over the age of 50.
References
- MedlinePlus; Muscle Aches; Linda J. Vorvick, M.D., David Zieve, M.D., M.H.A.; May 2009
- "Mayo Clinic Proceedings"; Prevalence of Severe Hypovitaminosis D in Patients With Persistent, Nonspecific Musculoskeletal Pain; G. A. Plotnikoff and J. M. Quigley; December 2003
- "Medical Journal of Australia"; Muscle Pain as an Indicator of Vitamin D Deficiency in an Urban Australian Aboriginal Population; Jill Benson, Anne Wilson, Nigel Stocks and Nicole Moulding; April 2006
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