The Importance of Vitamin D To Health

Vitamin D is very important for our health. It helps in the absorption of calcium in the intestines and then again in the kidney. The vitamin is responsible for stimulating the white blood cells to attack infection and other foreign particles in the blood. In addition, Vitamin D is instrumental in stimulating the production and maturation of new cells in the various tissues of the body.

Lack of Vitamin D in the body can pose many serious complications. Vitamin D deficiency can occur due to bad diet, not spending enough time in the sun and by certain health conditions that obstruct the absorption of Vitamin D in the digestive tract.

If you have a deficiency of Vitamin D, you can many different types of diseases like ricket, osteoporosis or osteomalacia. These conditions can affect children as well as adults but the manifestation in adults and children is different.

If you do not take the required amount of Vitamin D that you body needs, you will be at the risk of getting hypertension, narrowing of blood vessels, heart failure and stroke. People who are suffering from diabetes are the greatest risk if they have a Vitamin D deficiency. Medical research has also shown that deficiency of Vitamin D increases the risk of getting cancer, especially colon cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

Low intake of Vitamin D also seems to accelerate the signs of aging and you can get age-related disorders like Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's. Vitamin D deficiency affects the immune system of the body and makes a person susceptible to infections and autoimmune disorders like diabetes.

The recommended daily allowance of Vitamin D is 200 to 600 IU and older people need more of it than younger people, and so also people who are overweight. However, taking more that the recommended level of the vitamin can be toxic and if your intake is more 2,000 IU, you risk being poisoned.

The Importance of Vitamin D To Health