Vitamin D: Women Need It At All Stages Of Life

Without enough vitamin D, women face significantly increased health risks at all stages of life.Vitamin D has long been recognized for its importance to bone strength, but a growing body of medical evidence indicates that it plays a crucial role in many aspects of health. Though it is the only vitamin that the body can produce, deficiency is alarmingly common. As many as three fourths of the adults and teens in the US are believed to have inadequate levels, and D vitamin deficiency has been identified as a growing health problem all over the world.Exposure to the sun triggers the skin to manufacture the vitamin, but the body's ability to produce it declines with age. There are relatively few natural food sources of it, and most people get the majority of the vitamin by drinking fortified milk. Crucial to bone, muscle development in adolescent girlsRecent research by the University of Manchester, UK screened 99 girls between 12 and 14 years of age. 75% of the girls had demonstrably low blood levels of D vitamin, though none of the girls showed symptoms of deficiency.The researchers then tested the girls' muscle strength and force. The girls who were not deficient scored significantly higher in the strenth and force tests than those who were deficient, leading the research team to conclude that the link between deficiency and relative weakness definitely merits further study. The study data highlights the importance of the vitamin to muscle function in adolescent girls, they said, adding that there could be implications for long-term bone development.Levels particularly important during pregnancyStudies show that inadequate levels of D vitamin during pregnancy could have a negative impact on many aspects of pregnancy, from increasing the risk of pre-eclampsia to decreasing the length of gestation, birth weight, and odds for good fetal bone development.It is also believed that suffiency of the vitamin during pregnancy can actually lower the child's risk of many health problems and diseases later in life.One of the most important nutrients for women during and after menopauseThe hormonal swings of menopause, together with and increasingly indoor-oriented lifestyle and the aging body's decreased ability to manufacture D vitamin, makes deficiency among older women common. This is particularly dangerous, experts say, because low levels of the vitamin significantly increase the risk of osteoporosis, osteomalasia, and hip fractures.In addition, deficiency has been related to an increased risk of several types of cancer, including breast cancer, as well as a higher incidence of heart disease, multiple sclerosis, asthma, and diabetes.

Vitamin D: Women With Low Levels 70% More Likely To Have Hip Fractures

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