Credit, Getty Images
Saskia Reeves-Priestley, 23, was at work when she suddenly collapsed. "I felt very dizzy, very nauseous, had palpitations and felt very hot," she said.
Saskia, a special education teacher in the UK, is a dedicated goalkeeper who played football four times a week and felt fit and healthy. Although her symptoms were not directly linked to vitamin D deficiency, she realized something was wrong.
Later blood tests showed that his levels of the vitamin were low — "virtually zero."
In the UK, low vitamin D levels are increasing in some age groups, particularly in girls and young women.
According to data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, last year almost a quarter of young people between the ages of 11 and 18 were classified as having nutritional deficiencies.
Even though Brazil is a country with high solar incidence, more than 50% of the adult population in the country has insufficient or deficient levels of vitamin D, according to research data from Fiocruz and clinical studies.
Vitamin D can be obtained from our diet, from foods such as fatty fish and meat, or through supplements.
But most of it is produced by our bodies when ultraviolet light from the sun hits the skin. Lower levels of sunlight—depending on where you live or the time of year—decrease your body's ability to produce it.
End of Most read
Covering parts of the body and using sunscreen also has an impact, despite its protective advantages.
People with darker skin need exposure to brighter light to produce the same amount of vitamin D as people with lighter skin.
A blood test can identify a vitamin D deficiency, but doctors may also prescribe a supplement if a patient is concerned about a possible high risk.
What are the symptoms and the impact they have on everyday life?
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with rickets, a bone disease present in babies and young children. In adults, it causes similar bone weakening called osteomalacia.
"They call it the silent disease," says Dr. Suma Uday, a pediatric endocrinologist who wants to make people aware of the problem.
She warns that vitamin D deficiency in young people and adults is difficult to detect and can go unnoticed or misdiagnosed. Symptoms include fatigue and joint and bone pain.
"Basically, it's silently eating away at the bones, leaving them softened and prone to fractures," says Uday.
Credit, Amaka Osu
Amaka was in the middle of preparing dinner at her university house in Liverpool when she began to shake.
“I could barely see what was in front of me,” she says. Her roommate took her to the emergency room — she, too, would later be diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency.
Other than tiredness, she says she had no other symptoms: "I'm a 21-year-old student. I have work and college — I always feel tired."
She remembers her mother suffering from vitamin D deficiency, but says she had no idea it could happen to her.
After taking the supplements, Amaka feels much better, but is anxious if it happens again. "It was scary and I don't want to go through that again."
Lifelong deficit in girls
Uday joins other doctors and academics who have formed a group — ACT NOW Vitamin D — that calls for the threshold at which you are classified as deficient to be widened.
She says this would "identify" more people with low vitamin D levels and provide a more accurate picture of the extent of the problem. It would also mean the deficiency could be treated sooner, he adds.
Uday warns of a "lifelong deficit" in women — in adolescence, then in pregnancy and, finally, in the newborn.
"If you don't fix this early on," she says, "it will affect multiple generations."
Credit, Liam Asman
"It's shocking," says Professor Martin Hewison of the University of Birmingham. He says that even though it has been 100 years since the discovery of vitamin D, "rickets has not gone away."
"If we have rickets in the community, there will be many more people with vitamin D deficiency."
He states that the UK government should analyze the possibility of further fortifying foods, with the addition of vitamins during production. Countries such as Canada and Sweden already have mandatory policies for this purpose.
In the UK, some foods, such as breakfast cereals, are already fortified with vitamin D, but this is optional.
During the winter months, people begin to lose their vitamin D levels.
"We may have to accept that, for certain groups, vitamin D supplementation is a given," says Hewison.
Saskia now takes vitamin D supplements regularly and is back on track to achieve her goal.
Discover more
Watch
End of Watch
