Vitamin D absence

Obtaining sufficient vitamin D from normal food sources alone is not easy. For many people, overriding vitamin D-fortified foods and, questionably, being uncovered to some daylight are indispensable for maintaining a healthy vitamin D status. In some groups, dietary supplements might be requisite to meet the daily need for vitamin D.Vitamin D requirements cannot ordinarily be met by being milk alone .which provides 25 IU/L to 78 IU/L .(The vitamin D content of human milk is related to the mother's vitamin D status, so mothers who supplement with high doses of vitamin D may have correspondingly high levels of this nutrient in their milk .A evaluation of reports of dietary rickets found that a majority of cases occurred among young, breastfed African Americans .A examination of Canadian pediatricians found the incidence of rickets in their patients to be 2.9 per 100,000; almost all those with rickets had been breast fed .While the sun is a potential source of vitamin D, the AAP advises keeping infants out of direct sunlight and having them wear caring clothing and sunscreen .As noted earlier, the AAP recommends that exclusively and partially breastfed infants be supplemented with 400 IU of vitamin D per day .the RDA for this nutrient during infancy. Older adults are at increased risk of developing vitamin D deficiency in part because, as they age, skin cannot synthesize vitamin D as competently, they are likely to spend more time indoors, and they may have inadequate intakes of the vitamin .As many as half of older adults in the United States with hip fractures could have serum 25.