Tata 1mg Labs did a study that showed that about 76 percent of Indians, or one in three, don’t get enough vitamin D. The tests were done on a total of 2.2 million people in 27 different cities.
People under the age of 25 are most likely to have this deficiency, as 84% of those under 25 do not get enough of the vitamin in question. In the age group of 25–40, the prevalence was 81%, which was a little lower than the national average but still much higher than the norm for other age groups.
Dr. Prashant Nag, the clinical head of Tata 1mg Labs, says, “Infants and children under the age of five, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, teenagers and young women, adults over the age of 65, and people who don’t spend much time in the sun are most likely to have too little vitamin D.”
Pediatricians say that this problem is also common in very young children. Doctors say that teenagers and babies who were born during or right before the pandemic are the most likely to get sick.
“Overall, both during and after the Covid study, there was a big rise in the number of children who were found to have too little vitamin D.” Dr. Arvind Kumar, director and head of pediatrics at Fortis Hospital in New Delhi, told Business Insider India that most of the children who were affected by Vitamin D deficiency because of Covid were babies and teenagers.
The rays of sunlight that we can’t see
Vitamin D, which is also known as the “sunshine vitamin,” is important for a person’s physical and mental health, as well as their growth and development, metabolism, immunity, bone health, and overall immune function. Lack of it has been linked to rickets, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, depression, and prostate cancer, among other diseases and conditions.
Medical experts say that the illness is caused not only by not getting enough sunlight but also by bad eating habits. “A change in eating habits and more time spent inside and less time spent outside have led to an alarming rise in the number of people who don’t get enough vitamin D,” Dr. Rajeev Sharma, Vice President of Medical Affairs at Tata 1mg, says that the significantly higher rate in young adults could also be because they eat less vitamin D-rich foods like fortified cereals and oily fish.
Dr. Sharma says that irregular or unplanned pregnancies in women who already have nutritional deficiencies can make both the mother and the child have less vitamin D. Based on the results of the study, the condition happens more often in men than in women.
According to the research, the deficit is most common in Surat and Vadodara and least common in Delhi NCR and Meerut, which are both close behind. Most of the other cities had rates of incidence that were higher than the national average.
“The skin contains a type of cholesterol that is a building block for vitamin D. When it is exposed to the UV-B light that the sun gives off, it changes into vitamin D. According to research published by Tata 1mg, “the shortage can be prevented by getting enough sun and eating foods high in vitamin D, like egg yolks, oily fish, red meat, and foods that have been fortified with vitamin D.”
Rosy