Why do we need vitamin D? It has been proven that in children it prevents the development of rickets, and protects adolescents and adults from caries, gum pathologies and osteoporosis, and accelerates the healing of fractures. In addition, it is believed that vitamin D improves mood, saves from depression, prolongs life, positively affects the immune and endocrine systems, can protect against SARS and asthma, and also reduces the risk of dementia, oncology and cardiovascular diseases.
At the same time, more than half of Russians are deficient in vitamin D. Over the past few years, drugs that contain it have become in high demand: doctors are increasingly prescribing them to their patients. Sales of this substance in pharmacies have increased especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, in 2021, pharmacies sold 13 million packages of dietary supplements with vitamin D, which is a 39% increase compared to the previous year.
But such medicines are far from being shown to everyone, says Mikhail Statsenko, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Internal Diseases of the VolgGMU.
– The first mention of the possibility of using vitamin D dates back to the end of the 16th, beginning of the 17th century. Then, fish oil, which contains a large amount of vitamin D, was tried to treat violations of posture, bone structure, ”said the professor.
Vitamin D is the only substance in the human body that not only comes from food, but is also synthesized on its own. In addition, scientists have proven that a half-hour exposure to the sun fully compensates for a person’s need for this substance. But its excess can be harmful to health – cause, for example, disruption of the heart and kidneys.
– Vitamin D enters our body, for example, with fatty fish, with the yolk of a chicken egg, that is, nature has not deprived us of this vitamin. We consider it harmless, but in fact it is a hormone-like substance, – says Olga Shatalova, professor of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Intensive Care of the Volgograd State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of Russia, chief freelance specialist – clinical pharmacologist of the Volgograd Region Health Committee.
– It is known that at least 80% of the world’s population suffers from vitamin D deficiency. And this is actually a global problem. Another thing is that we really do not know enough about the doses of this substance. They may vary: for an infant, this is one dose, for a child from one year to 18 – another, and after 56 years it should be increased several times. It can definitely be assumed that vitamin D deficiency will be in a person who is overweight – obese. Therefore, we can say that in many respects this dose is individual, – Professor Statsenko believes.
– We can take prophylactic doses of vitamin D almost everything, but therapeutic doses are prescribed only when there is really an urgent need for this. This applies to all other vitamins, says clinical pharmacologist Olga Shatalova.
Only a doctor can determine those conditions in which the body really needs vitamin D, and prescribe its intake in the required dosages.
– There are 3-4 dozen symptoms when a doctor should suspect a deficiency of this substance: these are, for example, muscle weakness, sleep disturbance, phenomena associated with fractures that occur spontaneously. But it should be remembered that an excess of vitamin D is no less dangerous than its deficiency, – says Mikhail Statsenko, head of the Department of Internal Diseases.
For normal vitamin D synthesis, two conditions are important: sufficient intake of healthy fats and sufficient sun exposure. The scientists spoke in more detail about this in the next issue of the popular scientific interactive online video podcast about medicine “Remarkable Science”. You can watch the new series of the project in the post:
2023-07-14 14:33:32
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