Deficiency in Vitamin D and iron

Lack of sunlight is a major contributor. I have ME with stimulus sensitivities and have to take Vitamin D supplemants.

your body needs vitamin D to regulate calcium and phosphate and is this linked to a number of processes including bone and teeth health. research is still ongoing and they are finding possible links with other things as well including mood.

there is much information on this on the NHS website or if you want something more scientific then you could look up the british dietetic society or the nutrition foundation. for the latest scientific info i think that it is possible to find the SACN report online. try to avoid websites which provide information which is not backed up by scientific evidence.

as for how someone becomes deficient, well that happens if you don't replenish the body stores while you body continues to use them up. vitamin D is in some foods but not in large enough amounts for humans to rely on that. we need exposure to sunshine to make vitamin D. for people who don't get enough skin exposure to the sun, supplements are recommended.

hope this helps

The most likely reason is you aren't in the sun enough - if you live at a latitude north of about Turin in northern Italy you need to be in the sun between 11am  and 3pm during the months May to September. That is the only time the sunlight strikes your skin at a high enough angle to trigger the process in the skin that produces vit D. But for the last umpteen years we've been told to "slip, slap, slop". Wearing clothes and a hat and using sunscreen reduces the amount that can be produced - a factor 8 sunscreen reduces the amount of vit D that can be produced by over 90% and a light suntan is equivalent to factor 12 sunscreen!

You make the largest amount when you are about 20 - by the time you are heading for 70 the production process has slowed down so you probably produce about 25% of what you did at 20.

You derive very little vit D from diet - however healthy your diet is, unless you eat large amounts of oily fish every day you are probably only getting less than 10% of your needs. Vit D is found in oily fish, liver, egg yolks and some mushrooms, very little else. And in the USA various foods are fortified - milk, orange juice and flour. In the UK and the rest of Europe fortification is not allowed.

Your vit D is at its highest in September, at the end of the summer when you have been laying down stocks to keep you going over the winter. If your vit D was measured in the last week or so it is approaching its lowest level because the stocks have been used over the winter.

Low vit D is often found in people who have an autoimmune disorder - it isn't known whether it is cause or effect but either way it may have an effect on the level they are able to measure.

It can be caused by hyperparathyroid syndrome as i have or mal absorption.

 

You ask about Iron deficiency.  

We can obtain iron naturally by eating foods such as red meat, pork and poultry. seafoods. beans. dark green leafy vegetables, such as spinach. dried fruit, such as raisins and apricots. Iron-fortified cereals, breads and pastas.and peas.

Coincidentally some of the above foods such as meat and seafoods provide Vitamin D so if your diet is lacking in them that will contribute toward a deficiency although as others have said sunshine is our main source.

Unfortunately because of "skin cancer scares" we are encouraged to "cover up" and plaster ourselves with high factor sunscreens which probably explains why a fair percentage of U.K. citizens are Vitamin D deficient.

If you suspect you are iron and or Vitamin D deficient please go to your doctor and get tested.

I wish you well