Vitamin D is a nutrient that is essential for our health. Vitamin D helps our body absorb calcium and therefore have strong bones. Vitamin D plays an important role in our immune system to help fight off bacteria and viruses too.
Vitamin D deficiency is a global health problem affecting over a billion people worldwide including myself. A lack of vitamin D can affect our health negatively and result in obesity, diabetes, hypertension, depression, osteoporosis, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease (Naeem, 2010).
Here is one example of how vitamin D deficiency can impact our health. A study by Oh et al. (2009) investigated the effects of vitamin D on macrophage cholesterol deposition. They obtained macrophages from 76 obese, diabetic, and hypertensive patients with vitamin D deficiency (group A) and 4 control groups made up of obese, diabetic, and hypertensive patients with normal vitamin D levels (group B), obese, non-diabetic, hypertensive patients with vitamin D deficiency (group C), non-obese, non-diabetic, and non-hypertensive patients with vitamin D deficiency (group D) or sufficiency group (group E). The macrophages were cultured in a vitamin D-deficient or 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3)–supplemented media combined with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) which is considered the “bad” cholesterol. The results identified that the macrophages from the diabetic patients with vitamin D deficiency had a deletion of the vitamin D receptor in macrophages which accelerated foam cell formation from LDL cholesterol and therefore, accelerated cardiovascular disease as we learned from our biochemistry TBL #3.
In order to prevent vitamin D deficiency, people can spend 15-20 minutes daily in the sunshine with 40% of their skin exposed. Foods contain limited vitamin D, however vitamin D can be obtained from fatty fish, egg yolk, fortified dairy products, and beef liver (Naeem, 2010). There are also dietary supplements that contain vitamin D made up of two forms D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol). I encourage everyone to try to get some sunlight because it is healthy for us! One way I have been trying to get more sunlight is to take my dog out to the dog park more frequently.
References:
Naeem Z. (2010). Vitamin d deficiency- an ignored epidemic. International journal of health sciences, 4(1), V–VI.
Oh, J., Weng, S., Felton, S. K., Bhandare, S., Riek, A., Butler, B., Proctor, B. M., Petty, M., Chen, Z., Schechtman, K. B., Bernal-Mizrachi, L., & Bernal-Mizrachi, C. (2009). 1,25(OH)2 vitamin d inhibits foam cell formation and suppresses macrophage cholesterol uptake in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Circulation, 120(8), 687–698. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.856070
Vitamin D. (2021). Retrieved 28 November 2021, from https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-Consumer/
Washington University School of Medicine. (2009, August 25). Why Low Vitamin D Raises Heart Disease Risks In Diabetics. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 25, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090821211007.htm
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ReplyDeleteGreat post! I had no idea that Vitamin D has such effects on our health relating to cholesterol. Something you mentioned that was very inserting to me was seasonal depression. An article I read about this explained that vitamin D affects many neurotransmitters and neurotrophic factors that are related to mental disorders. I also found that there are hypothesis concerning autism and schizophrenia to developmental (prenatal) vitamin D deficiencies. I myself am quite the homebody and I cannot tell you when it was the last time I opened my blinds (I will be changing that now).
ReplyDeleteHumble, M. B. (2010). Vitamin D, light and mental health. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology, 101(2), 142–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2010.08.003