Vitamin D Deficiency

Excerpt

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that plays an important role in calcium homeostasis and bone metabolism. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteomalacia and rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. The fortification of milk with vitamin D in the 1930s was effective in eradicating rickets in the world. However, subclinical vitamin D deficiency is still widely prevalent in both developed and developing countries, with a worldwide prevalence of up to 1 billion. This subclinical vitamin-D deficiency is associated with osteoporosis, increased risk of falls, and fragility fractures. Many conflicting recent studies are now showing an association between vitamin D deficiency and cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, and depression.