Why is Vitamin D important for good health? What are Vitamin D rich foods? What causes Vitamin D deficiency? What are the effects of Vitamin D deficiency? Does Vitamin D play a role in COVID-19? Are there different types of Vitamin D? How can one increase their Vitamin D levels? Dr Rajesh Bhardwaj, a senior ENT specialist, talks to us in detail about the Vitamin D, its benefits, deficiency, sources, types, and its role in fighting COVID-19.
Video Breakdown:
0:29 Facts about Vitamin D
0:44 Sources of Vitamin D
1:52 Functions of Vitamin D
2:06 Role of Vitamin D against COVID-19
2:21 Vitamin D and Supplements
2:45 Who is prone to Vitamin D Deficiency?
3:35 Vitamin D deficiency in Children
#VitaminDSources #VitaminDfood #VitaminDfunction
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Video Transcript:
Deficiency of vitamin D in children, which is a serious condition called rickets can cause severe musculoskeletal problems as well as growth delays and other developmental problems in children.
What is Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, which is essential for the human body and its main function is in the structure and maintenance of Bones.
Facts about vitamin D
Vitamin D is the only vitamin in the body which can be manufactured by you, yourself. If your skin is exposed to the sunlight your body can manufacture entirely. It is not only a vitamin there is also a hormone. So these are two interesting facts about vitamin D
Sources of Vitamin D
Vitamin D is mainly available through animal sources its availability from plant sources is not very good. And so, particularly for those who are strictly vegetarian and those who do not even eat eggs, it is important that they must expose themselves to sunshine.
Vitamin D is readily available in fish in red meat in liver, and eggs -particularly in the egg yolk. Egg yolk contains enough vitamin D for you to maintain vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is available in very limited quantities in vegetable sources. The one vegetable that is richly supplied with vitamin D is mushroom. You can also have cheese, for your supply of vitamin D.
Remember if your natural sources of vitamin D are low fortification or supplementation is an important source. Fortification particularly from foods like milk and cereal that you buy from the shelves – look for vitamin D supplementation in those fortified foods and make sure that you get your adequate nutrition from these sources.
Functions of Vitamin D
The human body requires vitamin D for its metabolism of calcium and phosphorus and also for maintaining immune function. It is extremely important for the development of bones and teeth, and it is also important for the development of your body’s immunity.
Role of Vitamin D against COVID-19
Currently, in the era of COVID-19, there is a lot of interest in vitamin D because it seems that sufficient amount of vitamin D or vitamin D supplementation can help boost your body’s immunity and prevent you from getting an attack of COVID-19.
Vitamin D Supplementation
If Vitamin D levels in the body are adequate there is no reason for you to take a supplement. It is easy enough for you to get tested to find out your serum levels of vitamin D. If they are low, you can take a supplement.
Normally a supplement or vitamin D3 is taken as a sachet. We give this once a week in about 60,000 units, to be taken for about eight to ten weeks depending upon how deficient you are in the vitamin.
Vitamin D deficiency
Deficiency of vitamin D leads to the weakening of your bones and pathological fractures and sometimes lowering of your body’s immunity.
People prone to vitamin D deficiency
There are some people who are more prone to developing vitamin D deficiency. These are elderly people because their absorption maybe a little less efficient, persons whose body is completely covered and whose exposure to the sunlight is low and people who are vegetarian are also more prone to developing vitamin D deficiency. Since vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, patients whose metabolism is hampered or whose intestinal absorption is hampered because of Crohn’s Disease and other chronic intestinal problems may have vitamin D deficiency. Obese persons who have undergone bariatric surgery may have a problem with absorbing adequate amounts of vitamin D and may suffer from deficiencies. In children particularly, if you think that their vitamin D levels may be low., make sure that they get fortified cereal, fortified milk, fortified margarine or if nothing else cod liver oil could be given to them to maintain their levels of vitamin D at a healthy level.
