You’ve probably heard of Vitamin D at some point.
It’s the magic compound they keep talking about, a vitamin that you can absorb just by standing out in the sun. Along with being vital to maintaining the strength of one’s bones and teeth, it also protects us against a host of diseases.
In the digital age, however, newer generations have found fewer reasons to go out in the open. As more of our jobs move towards the comfort of our homes and air-conditioned offices— with meetings being conducted over video calls, now more than ever—the lesser are we seeing the outside world. This fact has led many researchers into the calling Vitamin D deficiency phenomenon an ignored epidemic.
And all of this only becomes worse when you realise Vitamin D deficiency is strongly correlated with a certain pandemic that has currently driven all of us into our homes (hint: the reason you are probably reading this article).
But first things first — what does Vitamin D do?
A lot! Vitamin D :
- Regulates the amount of calcium and phosphate in our bodies, preventing us from contracting deformity diseases.
- Helps repair our bones and teeth, keeping them healthy.
- Regulates the functions of over 200 genes and is essential for growth and development (keeps our muscular strength up).
- Prevents a multitude of diseases such as arthritis and diabetes.
Continuing point 1, calcium & phosphate compounds are present in a massive variety of antibodies, hormones, etc. which regulate the proper functioning of our bodies. Can you even imagine what happens in its absence?
All of this is especially alarming considering the falling rates of Vitamin D in India and all across the world, which leads us to ask the question—
How big an issue is Vitamin D deficiency in India?
According to certain sources, India has a Vitamin deficiency problem prevalent amongst more than 80–90% of its population!
In its bid to rapidly modernise itself to achieve development standards, India has become one of the world’s hardest-hit countries when it comes to Vitamin D deficiency. Despite plenty of sunshine, people don’t leave their homes or offices during the day and hardly ever come into contact with sunlight.
Vit D deficiency has snowballed into becoming a large-scale pandemic that’s often ignored
And as a result, the vast majority of Indians are strongly at risk of developing structural deformities and being immunocompromised.
That last bit, the one regarding people getting immunocompromised, is an especially large concern for us right now. In the wake of COVID-19, being immunocompromised can potentially prove to be fatal to a person. And so you might be wondering—
Is Vitamin D related to the body’s ability to fend off the novel coronavirus?
There are numerous studies that point to a link between COVID-19 and Vitamin D.
More often than not, it has been seen that there is a strong statistical link between a person’s Vitamin D levels and their susceptibility to COVID-19. According to these reports, being low on Vitamin D can lead to a compromised immune system, which in turn, can lead to one having a difficult time warding off the novel coronavirus.
This problem is made even more complicated when we realise that because of the lockdown, most of us have been cooped up in our homes for months. Most experts believe that this problem—unless diagnosed and solved with the proper food intake — is sure to worsen the Vitamin D deficiency problem.
All of this brings us to the next question —
Where do we get Vitamin D, and how do we know if we suffer from its deficiency?
Vitamin D can be found in some food items like red meat, liver, egg yolk, some breakfast cereals, or fortified cow milk. While the majority of our Vitamin D requirement (50% to 90%) is fulfilled by sunlight, one can also take dietary supplements to increase the level of the compound within their bodies.
One must, however, also keep in mind that an overdose of Vitamin D is just as bad a problem as deficiency.
You can tell whether you have a Vitamin D deficiency by getting a diagnostic test. A simple blood test that can be taken without any special measures or preparation, it is designed to directly measure the amount of the compound within your bloodstream. This test can be performed easily and throughout the country, at very cheap rates.
As a health tech startup, we at NIROGGYAN have specially designed products created to solve all your lab reporting needs. Our products in the form of user-friendly lab test reports that are meant to improve health awareness & better living. Here is our report on the Vitamin D test :
Visit us at niroggyan.com to know more.
