3. You catch infections easily
When you fall short of adequate vitamin D levels in your blood, your bones and muscles are not the only things you must be worried about. Your immune system gets variably affected owing to deficiency of this nutrient, though it is not specific. The nutrient keeps in check two important mechanisms of fighting off an infection: eradication of inflammation and stimulation of immune cells.
With depleting vitamin D levels, one is more susceptible towards development of respiratory infections. Which is why flu and cold is more commonly found in people with vitamin D deficiency. Conversely, this deficiency is also a consequence of chronic inflammatory conditions.
So next time you observe that you are developing cold too often, check for other signs and risks of vitamin D deficiency in your body. People with adequate levels of vitamin D in blood are found to contain lower risks of developing rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes mellitus and multiple sclerosis.
4. You have chronic kidney disease
As it has been already stated above that certain ailments like ‘chronic kidney disease’ can produce vitamin D deficiency in your blood. This happens because of the form of this nutrient which our skin absorbs through sunlight in an inactive one. Enzymes in the kidney are responsible for tuning on vitamin D, which then gets converted into its active form.
The active vitamin D metabolite then regulates the absorption of calcium and phosphorus from the kidneys. Rising levels of calcium and phosphorus trigger a hormone called ‘parathyroid hormone‘, which then works to incorporate them into bones. People with long-standing kidney diseases are often checked for vitamin D deficiency, since an ailed kidney becomes unable to convert this nutrient into its active metabolite.
Chronic kidney disease could be the result of numerous factors, most common among which include post-viral infections and prolonged obstruction due to stone formation in urinary pathway. Many people develop kidney diseases owing to the presence of other co-morbidities such as diabetes and hypertension.
In such patients, if vitamin D receptors are found to be working fine, a prepared formula of vitamin D is provided to overcome the deficiency.