What is vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a critical factor for overall health, especially strong and healthy bones. It is also an important player in ensuring that a number of important organs such as muscles, heart, lungs, and brain work properly and the immune system is suitable for fighting infections.

The body can make its own vitamin D from sunlight. However, sufficient vitamin D can also be obtained from supplements and small amounts come from some foods. Vitamin D must be changed by the body several times before it can be used.

What does vitamin D do for Thyroid Disease?

Vitamin D is different from other vitamins. While the human body relies on a variety of foods to get an adequate intake of other vitamins, the body can make its own vitamin D from skin exposure to sunlight.

When the body gets its vitamin D, it converts vitamin D into a hormone called active vitamin D or calcitriol. Vitamin D is essential for strong bones and is necessary for absorbing minerals such as calcium and phosphorus.

Without enough vitamin D, this mineral cannot be absorbed into the body. Vitamin D is important for good general health, and now researchers are finding that vitamin D may be important for many other reasons beyond good bone health. Some of the body functions attributed to vitamin D include:

• Immune system
• Muscle function
• Heart and healthy circulation l Healthy lungs and airways
• Brain development
• Anti-Cancer Effects

Doctors are still working to fully understand how vitamin D works in the body and how it affects overall health.

How much is vitamin D needed?

Your diet has no bearing on how much vitamin D you need to consume. You must regularly expose your skin to sunshine and may also need to take supplements to receive enough vitamin D.

In comparison to other vitamins and minerals, this makes obtaining the proper dosage a little more difficult. While scientifically sound to lower the danger of skin damage from UV rays, public health recommendations to avoid prolonged sun exposure and wear sunscreen to guard against skin cancer imply that there are some high degrees of alarm.

Exposure to the sun for a few minutes without using sunscreen is safe and helps produce adequate vitamin D levels.

Various organizations recommend different daily needs for vitamin D, ranging from 200 to 1000 IU (International Units) per day. consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D (400IU). This may vary depending on skin color, season, geographical location, and clothing.

Does vitamin D deficiency cause health problems?

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a variety of diseases including osteoporosis, heart disease, some types of cancer, autoimmune conditions, and poor muscle strength.

However, evidence that conclusively confirms the exact role of vitamin D deficiency in causing these various conditions is still lacking. The strongest evidence of low vitamin D exists for osteoporosis and hence supplementation along with calcium is now routinely prescribed in these conditions.

Does vitamin D deficiency play a role in the development of thyroid disease?

Some, but not all, observational studies have found low levels of vitamin D in the blood of patients with hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) as well as hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) due to Graves' disease.

It is unclear from these studies whether low vitamin D is a cause, consequence, or innocent observer in the development of this common thyroid condition. It is possible that low vitamin D allows a poorly performing immune system to facilitate the development of thyroid disease.

Similarly, it is also possible that people with thyroid disease may have altered health or lifestyle leading to a state of low vitamin D.

For example, patients with an overactive thyroid due to Graves' disease may increase the breakdown of vitamin D into inactive products, whereas those with an underactive thyroid may spend less time outdoors due to fatigue and thus reduce sun exposure. Only properly conducted scientific trials can definitively answer this question.

Is there any previous evidence linking vitamin D deficiency to other autoimmune conditions to suggest that supplementation may be beneficial?

Diabetes mellitus type 1: Researchers in Finland observed that the accelerated increase in the occurrence of autoimmune type in-diabetes has stopped since 2006. They stated that an unexplained 5-fold increase in the incidence of type 1 diabetes prior to 2006 was associated with a corresponding decrease. in recommended doses of vitamin D to one-tenth since the 1950s.

Since 2003, there has been a vitamin D fortification program in milk and dairy products in Finland. In separate observations, the researchers found that there was an inverse link between new episodes of insulin-requiring diabetes and serum vitamin D levels. However, trials of vitamin D supplementation in type 1 diabetes have shown conflicting results.

Multiple sclerosis (MS): Living below latitudes of 35° for the first 10 years of life reduces the risk of multiple sclerosis by about 50%. Among white men and women, the risk of multiple sclerosis decreased by 41% due to elevated levels of vitamin D in the blood. Women who consumed more than 400 IU of vitamin D per day had a 42% reduced risk of developing multiple sclerosis.

Recently, in an observational study of 468 MS patients, higher serum vitamin D levels were associated with decreased disease activity and progression. Vitamin D trials in patients with MS have shown that while some blood scanning abnormalities and MRI are improving, this has not translated into clinically meaningful results.

Should everyone take vitamin D supplements?

Most people's skin will produce vitamin D in the summer but about a fifth of the population will still be deficient during this period. The situation may be worse during the winter.

Since it is impossible routinely to identify these people without everyone undergoing a blood test, Public Health England recommends everyone over the age of 1 should take a low dose of vitamin D (10 mcg or 400IU), especially in the winter months. The current advice during the Covid-19 pandemic is for people to consider taking daily supplements daily and eating foods rich in vitamin D.

This advice is given to promote good bone and muscle health, especially for people who spend more time indoors than at home. Usual. Advice for taking vitamin D supplements was not given to prevent or treat Covid-19 because a rapid review conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) found no evidence to support this claim.

People found to have vitamin D deficiency may also be prescribed higher therapeutic doses after proper testing and clinical management.