Then researchers all across the globe started reporting widespread deficiency of the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D. Physician conferences started focusing on the effects of this vitamin on health, bringing much revelation to the old thought that vitamin D was only important to prevent rickets.
Vitamin D Deficiency is Clearly Related to Pain One of the findings about vitamin D actually pertains to the amount of pain in the body that people have when there’s a deficiency. This pain is in the muscles and in the bones.
One study, performed in Iran at the Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, at Rouhani Hospital at the Babol University of Medical Sciences, evaluated 276 patients who had pain in different parts of their body – in their legs, joints, ribs, back, pain everywhere and fibromyalgia for their vitamin D status.
They compared the results of these patients with 202 patients without the pain, but with similar vitamin D levels.
What Level of Vitamin D is Considered Deficient? The doctors considered a level of vitamin D less than 20 ng/ml deficient. The “normal” range seen on blood tests from the laboratory is 30 to 100 ng/ml here in the United States.
Researchers discovered that when someone had pain in their legs, ribs, joints or everywhere, they usually also had a vitamin D deficiency.
In fact, the two types of pain that were highly correlated to a vitamin D deficiency were leg pain and joint pain, such as arthritis. They also found that women had a greater correlation of pain with a vitamin D deficiency. (Source: Int J Rheum Dis 2010 Oct;13(4).)
What this study means to you is to get your vitamin D levels checked, and if they’re low, raising them could significantly lessen your pain levels. You could be a lot happier with less pain, right?
Does Age or Type of Disease Affect Vitamin D Levels? Another study that appeared in a medical journal called Clinical Rheumatology discussed what the correlation was between vitamin D and pain in the joints in 231 patients at the Arthritis and Osteoporosis Center at the South Infirmary-Victoria University Hospital in Ireland.
This time the doctors wanted to see if age or diagnosis affected probability of having low vitamin D levels.
Different Standards for Determining Deficiency Interestingly, these doctors considered a vitamin D deficiency of less than or equal to 53 ng/ml. This level actually makes more sense since you should never be at the bottom of any ranges for vitamins and minerals.
Over Two-Thirds of Them Were Deficient The researchers discovered that 70% of the patients had a deficiency, and 26% had a severe deficiency (defined as less than 25 ng/ml). The patients who had rheumatoid arthritis were deficient 77% of the time.
Those with connective tissue diseases or inflammatory joint disease were deficient 69% of the time, and those with osteoarthritis 62% of the time. If patients had bone or muscle/joint pain in their back or osteoporosis, the deficiency rate was at 75% and 71% respectively.
Age Didn’t Really Matter They also discovered that age affected vitamin D status. You might think that if someone is young, they have more opportunity to go out in the sunshine more often and thus, should have higher levels of vitamin D.
Well, the research revealed that 65% of patients who were 65 or older and 78% of those who were 30 years old or less were deficient in vitamin D. (Source: Clin Rheumatol, 2011 June; 30(6).)
This gives us the clue that really, anyone can be deficient. Get your levels tested soon and take any appropriate actions right away. And do hold yourself to the higher standards of vitamin A deficiency levels as in Ireland. Don’t just get by when it comes to your vitamin D levels. Your bones and joints will appreciate you all the more when you do!
Source: healthhotsolution.com
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