SORUŞA AMIN

News Center- Vitamin D, like all vitamins, is a nutrient that is essential for life. Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin that has been produced on this earth for millions of years. Unlike other vitamins, vitamin D is not naturally found in many foods, but you can get it from fortified milk, fortified cereal, and fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines. Regular sun exposure at noon is needed to produce a sufficient amount of vitamin D. Twenty minutes of sunshine daily with over 40% of skin exposed is required to prevent vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D deficiency is a public health problem worldwide.

Iran has a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency than the global level. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency seems to be very high among women. Vitamin D deficiency was reported in 80% of Iranian women in the last 10 years, according to a recent study. Vitamin D deficiency is significantly more common in women than in men in Iran. The prevalence of VDD is 3.5 times more common in young women and 1.5 times more common in women over 45 than men. The Iran Dress Code of wearing concealing clothing is seen as a risk factor for vitamin D deficiency in women.

Vitamin D deficiency leads many diseases

Low vitamin D reduces calcium levels, induces a compensatory increase of the parathyroid, which leads to excessive bone absorption. In adults, severe vitamin D deficiency leads to osteomalacia causing weak bones, bone pain, and muscle weakness and to rickets in children. It is also a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Vitamin D deficiency plays a role in causing seventeen varieties of different cancers such as breast cancer and colon cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, autoimmune diseases, birth defects, and periodontal disease.