From a practicing physician –– who wishes to share some fundamental information about vit D deficiency, but remain anonymous:
Concerning vitamin D deficiency in the U.S. population, consider these facts:
1) The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in our population has been estimated to be between 50% and 80%.
2) Vitamin D receptors have been found in the nuclei of cells of all body systems, and they are proposed to be in virtually every cell in our body –– obviously an unprovable hypothesis.
3) Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to disease states involving practically every body systems –– including the nervous system (e.g. MS, ALS), cardiovascular system (e.g. arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, stroke), gastrointestinal system (e.g. irritable bowel, celiac disease, Crohn disease), musculoskeletal system (e.g. osteopenia, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis), many if not all types of cancer [see the two attached articles]…….
4) Chronic musculoskeletal complaints with vague pain in a global distribution, diagnosed as “fibromyalgia,” can be resolved within 6 weeks after instituting a regimen of oral vitamin D replacement; this was demonstrated in a randomized controlled trial involving ~100 people diagnosed with “fibromyalgia syndrome” (FMS).
5) “Vitamin D deficiency” is presently defined as “serum vit D levels below 20 ng/mL”, but vitamin D insufficiency is believed to begin at 30 ng/mL. The risk of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency in our society is associated with obesity, decreased sun exposure, excessive use of sunscreens, taking oral statins (to lower circulating cholesterol, which is required for vitamin D synthesis in our bodies), and (simply) low vitamin D dietary intake.