Due to adoption of urban lifestyles, vitamin D deficiency has reached epidemic proportions; 90% of patients we see are severely vitamin D deficient. The issue with Vitamin D deficiency is that patient complaints are extremely vague and possible to be missed by most doctors and sometimes even patients may not report them putting them down to the general wear and tear of life. Some can, however, get severe symptoms including stress fractures as well as neurological symptoms. Studies have shown that vitamin D decreases the risk by half in certain forms of Cancer like Colon and Breast Cancer. People with deficiency have been shown to have significantly higher incidences of various neurological disorders like Dementia, Depression, Multiple sclerosis, Psychosis and even Schizophrenia. The biggest plus point is that people who have good vitamin D levels have a much lower risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes, which is another epidemic we are facing in urban India.

Vitamin D plays another important role; boosting the immune system. Multiple studies have shown that people with high vitamin D levels are less likely to get Influenza and Flu like infections. Other less well established but actively under research benefits of Vitamin D includes protection against heart disease, high blood pressure and Autoimmune Disorders. Vitamin D supplementation is a no-brainer. Supplementation is extremely easy and after an initial weekly dose can be consumed once a month. However, you can obtain it naturally; the only problem lies in the consistency of sun exposure. To obtain a day of sufficient vitamin D supply, you have to spend time in direct sunlight, approximately between 60 and 120 minutes with 30% body surface exposed.