Vitamin D and health
Vitamin D is a hot topic these days. We get it from the sun, fortified milk, butter, ghee, soybeans, soy milk, cheese, eggs and certain types of fish and mushrooms. It’s usually credited with promoting bone strength and overall health. And vitamin D deficiency has been linked to many chronic diseases, including, but not limited to, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer. A recent study revealed that a whopping 70% of the Indians suffer from vitamin D deficiency. This study further adds that sunlight exposure is not a tenable solution to obtain vitamin D sufficiency among Indians, as darker skin has high melanin content and produces a significantly lesser amount of vitamin D when compared with individuals with fairer skin. Indian skin tone requires daily sunlight exposure of at least 45 minutes to produce sufficient amounts of vitamin D.
Vitamin D and genes
You may also need more vitamin D depending on the genes that you carry. Variations in the VDR gene are responsible for lower vitamin D levels. The VDR gene produces vitamin D receptors which allows the body to respond appropriately to vitamin D. People carrying mutations in the VDR gene may need to supplement with vitamin D to avoid deficiency.
Diet and vitamin D
Various nutritional factors attributing to high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in India are:
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Factors such as age (old age), body weight (people with a body mass index of 30 or greater), problems of the digestive tract like Crohn’s disease and cystic fibrosis, kidney problems results in low blood levels of vitamin D. The National Institute of Nutrition recommends 200 units, 5 mcg of vitamin D everyday. The following are the recommendations from the vitamin D council:
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Source: https://www.xcode.in/dna-and-nutrition/what-do-genes-tell-us-about-vitam…
