This common vitamin deficiency is said to significantly increase the risk of death

Vitamin D deficiency is not a new phenomenon. After all, it affects most of us every winter. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the human body only produces vitamin D itself when it has seen enough sun. And in the winter months, that is not always autumn. The result: bad mood. But that alone is probably not the problem, as a study shows. People who have too little vitamin D in their blood on a long-term basis increase their risk of death.

What happens if you don’t have enough vitamin D?

A vitamin D deficiency can have a major impact on bone health, explains the RKI. The most serious consequences are decalcification and subsequent softening of the bones. This affects people of different age groups differently:

  • In infants and children, rickets can occur, as well as serious disturbances in bone growth and permanent deformities of the skeleton. In addition, children with vitamin D deficiency often have reduced muscle strength, increased muscle tone and an increased susceptibility to infections.
  • In adults, it can also cause deformation of the load-bearing bones, bone pain, muscle weakness and increased strength. Vitamin D deficiency can also lead to osteoporosis in old age. This promotes bone mass and weakens bone tissue. The bones can also break much more easily.

Vitamin D deficiency should also be avoided in the case of certain pre-existing conditions, for example high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular or cancer diseases.

Study: Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of death

A study by the Medical University of Vienna shows that a long-term vitamin D deficiency increases stability. The research team evaluated patient data from 78,581 people. All of the test subjects had their blood vitamin D levels checked between 1991 and 2011 at the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Vienna General Hospital. The researchers then compared this patient data with the Austrian death register. On average, the research team was able to follow the test subjects for 10.5 years. After 20 years, they were able to identify 11,877 deaths.

But what exactly were the values ​​of these deceased people? The researchers set a healthy reference value of 50 nanomoles of vitamin D per liter (nmol/L) in the blood. They set low values ​​at values ​​below 10 nmol/L, and high values ​​start at 90 nmol/L. It was shown that a vitamin D level of 10 nmol/L or lower increased the risk of death by two to three times. People between the ages of 45 and 60 were particularly at risk.

The results of the study are particularly interesting for diabetes patients. The researchers found that a vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of death in diabetes sufferers by 4.4 times.

Also worth knowing: High vitamin D levels of 90 nmol/L or higher reduce the risk of death by 30 to 40 percent. The research team was unable to determine any negative effects of too much vitamin D in the blood.

How do you prevent vitamin D deficiency?

According to the RKI, the body can only produce vitamin D in Germany from March to October. The good thing is: During this time, the body not only covers its needs, but also creates vitamin D reserves in fat and muscle tissue. This prepares it for the winter.

In order to counteract low vitamin D levels in winter, the RKI recommends that you “expose your face, hands and arms to the sun uncovered and without sun protection two to three times a week between March and October.” In fact, a very short period of time is enough: around half the time it would otherwise take to get sunburn. Even if you are outside for longer, you should still make sure you use sun protection.

Vitamin D can also be absorbed through food. However, there are only a few foods that contain a lot of vitamin D. The German Nutrition Society (DGE) mentions fatty fish, eggs and some types of edible mushrooms in particular. In order to increase the vitamin D in the blood, you can also resort to food supplements. However, the DGE only recommends this if increasing the vitamin D level through your own production and food has not worked, in order to avoid the risk of a vitamin D overdose.

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