Vitamin D3 deficiency
What is Vitamin D3?
Vitamin D3 you make in your body from sunshine. It also called cholecalciferol. Vitamin D3 is made by skin when the skin is exposed to direct sunlight containing the B form of ultraviolet radiation (UVB).
Cholecalciferol is the form used in many supplements and is sometimes used in food fortification.
Vitamin D3, whether taken as a supplement or made in the skin from sunlight, is biologically inactive. Vitamin D3, is circulated to the liver through the bloodstream. In the liver cholecalciferol is hydroxylated (hydrogen and oxygen are added) to form calcidiol, the storage form of vitamin D.
Why we need Vitamin D3
Vitamin D3 serves a number of functions in the human body. Vitamin D3 helps the body absorb calcium, and this helps to maintain strong and healthy bones.
Vitamin D3 helps bones mend and heal after injury. Vitamin D3 can help reduce inflammation in the body.
Recent researches have shown vitamin D3 may also help prevent high blood pressure as well as some types of cancer.
Vitamin D3 deficiency symptoms
Certain diseases can develop in result of vitamin D3 deficiency. First of all, shortage of vitamin D3 in her blood causes rickets, a disease that causes bones to become deformed. Without enough vitamin D3 bones may become thin and brittle. An individual with a vitamin D3 deficiency is at a higher risk of developing osteoporosis. A deficiency in vitamin D3 can also cause chronic muscle weakness.
Vitamin D3 food sources
Unlike other nutrients, vitamin D3 is not found in a large number of foods. Mushrooms contain a lot of vitamin D3. Fish that are high in vitamin D3 include salmon, mackerel, sardines and tuna. Eggs are a good source of vitamin D3, as are beef and liver.
In US vitamin D3 has been added to a number of foods that people consume more regularly.
How protect yourself from osteoporosis and heart disease besides taking estrogen
Some 20 million American women are affected by osteoporosis.
Certainly for osteoporosis there are natural things that a woman can do that are somewhat helpful. Exercise, eat a decent diet, get enough calcium—but at the next level, which is taking medication, a woman’s options include alendronate, calcitonin and raloxifene or tamoxifen.
Ask your doctor if you should have a bone density scan, which is an x-ray of your bones that can detect bone loss. Your doctor may recommend hormone therapy or other drugs, diet changes or exercise to increase the mass and strength of your bones.
For cardiovascular disease, it’s the same thing: a low-fat diet, antioxidant vitamins, exercises, not smoking—all the things we know and read about. None of them is as good as estrogen for either osteoporosis or cardiovascular disease, but there certainly is some benefit. It’s better than doing nothing.
In the antioxidant area, folate is at least as strong as estrogen for fighting cardiovascular disease, as is vitamin E. For a smoker, quitting smoking will actually have as big an impact as taking estrogen.
So in fact there are a number of comparable strategies, and those with equal benefits and low risks should come to the top of the list of strategies. To me, that’s where some of these options clearly dominate the choice of estrogen for preventing heart disease.
New drug for osteoporosis treatment
Global sales of osteoporosis treatments, including hundreds of vitamin brands, hit nearly $8.4 billion last year, according to data from IMS Health. About 10 million Americans have osteoporosis.
Dr. Lenore Buckley, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, said all these drugs carry some risks. The studies found denosumab caused eczema in some patients, and a dozen of the women got a serious skin infection, cellulitis, that sometimes required hospitalization for intravenous antibiotics.
A first-of-its-kind new osteoporosis drug lowers the risk of bone fractures better than some existing treatments, two studies suggest, and could soon add a more expensive but easier option to the booming market.
Genetically engineered denosumab could be approved for sale this fall. Only two shots of it are needed each year.
That's important because many patients stop taking other drugs due to side effects or frequent dosing.
Dr. Jacob Warman, an osteoporosis treatment expert at Brooklyn Hospital Center, said denosumab might have potential as an add-on to osteoporosis treatment drugs and vitamins to boost results. He expects that would be covered by insurers, who pay for multiple medicines for other conditions.
The effectiveness of denosumab and existing drugs appears to plateau after two or three years.
Until recently, studies of osteoporosis drugs just measured changes in bone density, assumed to equate with lower fracture risk.
Newer studies also measure fracture rates, but there are no head-to-head studies on that.
Amgen spokeswoman Kerry Beth Daly said the company has not yet set a price for the new drug for osteoporosis treatment, but will try to keep it affordable.



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