While it's not unusual to hear of vitamin deficiencies among people with poor diets, most people who eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains don't worry about missing out on essential nutrients. But because so few foods contain high amounts of vitamin D, a healthy diet may not be enough to protect you from deficiency if you have other risk factors.
Avoiding the Sun
Vitamin D is unique in that your body can synthesize it when your skin is exposed to sunlight. But with so much emphasis placed on the harmful effects of UV rays, many people now stay out of the sun or use sunscreen, meaning they don't get enough sun exposure to produce significant amounts of vitamin D. People living in northern latitudes can also become deficient during the winter, when little time is spent outdoors and the angle of the sun is low.
Vegetarian Diet
Few foods are naturally rich in vitamin D, but the foods that do contain it tend to be animal products, such as milk, eggs, beef liver and fatty fish. Unless vegetarians and vegans take care to get plenty of vitamin D through sunlight, supplements and fortified non-animal foods, they can easily become deficient.
Dark Skin
People with dark skin have greater amounts of melanin, which reduces the body's ability to synthesize vitamin D from the sun, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. The risk for vitamin D deficiency is even greater for dark-skinned people who live far from the equator and those who keep their most of their skin shrouded due to religious beliefs.
Obesity
Once vitamin D is ingested or synthesized, it's stored in body fat. Obese people, with their greater fat stores, have less vitamin D circulating throughout their blood because so much of it is deposited in body fat, according to information from Oprah.com.
Disease
Certain diseases can interfere with your body's ability to properly absorb vitamin D. These include inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease, as well as fat malabsorption syndromes, such as cystic fibrosis and cholestatic liver disease.
Aging
The elderly are less able to synthesize vitamin D through UV exposure, and many keep their skin well covered or spend little time outdoors, which greatly reduces their vitamin D levels. Adults who live in nursing homes or hospitals are at even greater risk for deficiency if they don't receive vitamin D supplements.
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