Current Perspective on Vitamin D Deficiency: A Mini Review

Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency is a very common global problem today. Children, pregnant mothers, young adults and the elderly, all are at risk. This is an unexpected revelation since it is presumed that people in countries with abundant sunshine would have adequate levels of the vitamin. Various socio-cultural practices are responsible for this scenario. The decrease in vitamin D levels could be due to diet, lifestyle or disease. This mini review brings out the causes of vitamin D deficiency, regional and global scenario of the problem, as well as physiological and clinical conditions associated with the variation in the vitamin levels. Various clinical disorders where the deficiency has been documented, and possible mechanism suggested by different authors have been highlighted, with the aim to encourage in-depth reading. An attempt is made to reinforce to every doctor, the importance of vitamin D deficiency and how this awareness may be useful to them to understand various symptoms experienced by patients and to modulate their treatment protocols of various clinical disorders.