Vitamin D is one of the most essential vitamins your body needs to remain healthy and active. A deficiency in vitamin D can include symptoms such as chronic pain, weak bones, frequent infections and depression. Inactivity could contribute to a vitamin D deficiency, or eventually lead to inactivity because of long-term effects of vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin found naturally in some foods like egg yolks and fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines. It is also fortified into other foods such as milk, yogurt, orange juice and ready-to-eat cereals. Your body produces vitamin D naturally after exposure to ultraviolet sunlight on your skin. Vitamin D is necessary for bone growth and remodeling, and aids in calcium absorption. It also plays a role in cell growth, neuromuscular and immune function and in reducing inflammation.
Deficiencies
Your bones and activity levels are affected significantly when you are deficient in vitamin D -- they can become thin, brittle or misshaped. When your bones are weak or brittle, you are less likely to be active for fear of breaking a bone. Children who are deficient in vitamin D are at risk for developing rickets. Rickets is when the bone tissue fails to mineralize, resulting in soft bones and deformities. Osteomalacia in adults is a result of inadequate vitamin D levels. The bones become weak in osteomalacia, and you may experience bone pain and muscle weakness, which may lead you to become more inactive. Long-term vitamin D deficiency may result in osteoporosis in older adults. Osteoporosis is the brittle bone disease in which the bones become less dense over time and can easily become broken.
Who's At Risk
Individuals at risk for vitamin D deficiencies are children who are exclusively breastfed without vitamin D supplementations and people who are obese, have limited sun exposure or have dark skin. Breast milk does contain vitamin D, but if the mother is deficient in the vitamin, the infant will be, as well. Both the infant and mother should supplement with vitamin D to prevent deficiencies. People who are inactive or who have limited exposure to being outdoors cannot absorb as much sunlight to produce vitamin D naturally. Obese individuals have difficulty metabolizing and using the vitamin because it becomes trapped in the fat tissue. Individuals with darker skin are not able to absorb as much sunlight as lighter-skinned people because they have greater amounts of melanin in the epidermal layer of the skin. This results in a decreased ability to produce vitamin D from sunlight.
Recommended Daily Intake
Infants under one year should obtain at least 10 mcg of vitamin D daily. The recommended daily intake for people between one and 70 years old is 15 mcg, and 70 years and older is 20 mcg daily. Obtain vitamin D through food sources, supplements or sunlight absorption. Get between five and 30 minutes of sun exposure between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs or back without sunscreen to obtain sufficient vitamin D synthesis, recommends the National Institute of Health. The darker your skin pigment the longer exposure will be necessary for vitamin D production. Use protective sunscreen for longer exposure to sunlight to prevent sunburns and skin cancer.
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