if someone didn't drink milk in his childhood (not even maternal milk) will he have a vitamin D deficiency?
if somoene didn’t drink milk in his childhood (not even maternal milk) will he have a vitamin D deficiency in adult age? is it directly related?
Tagged with: adult age • drink milk • maternal milk • vitamin d deficiency
Filed under: Questions About D Vitamin Deficiency
1] Usually, deficiencies will show up in childhood – not later as an adult.
2] There are lots of other sources of vitamin D availble – such as other dairy products, fortified foods [ bread, cereal ], fatty fish and fish olis.
3] Vitamin D is also synthesized from sunlight – not as well in winter.
4] some adults also have Vitamin D deficiency, which has been linked to breast cancer.
No. In humans, the vast majority of Vitamin D is synthesized in the skin when the skin is exposed to sunlight.
It is bad to get too much sun exposure, but it is also bad to get too little. People north of the 37th latitude parallel are more prone to cancer, as Vitamin D deficiency poses a higher risk of cancer.
Sunscreen and dark skin can hinder the skin’s ability to synthesize vitamin D. That doesn’t mean you should stop wearing sunscreen altogether… it doesn’t take much time in the sun for your skin to produce large amounts of the vitamin.
Not to worry! Vitamin D can be acquired from a number of sources. Even if you don’t drink milk, other dairy products contain low levels of vitamin D. No dairy? Well other foods such as eggs or fish naturally contain vitamin D, and in the US and Canada, many foods are fortified with vitamin D, such as breakfast cereals, breads, and margerine. Even if you don’t eat any of these, vitamin D is synthesized by the body in more than enough quantity in response to UV light exposure (from the Sun).
If you didn’t have any vitamin D deficiency problems in childhood (i.e. Rickets), then there will no lasting effect through adulthood. You do want to make sure that you are getting enough in adulthood to support an adequate bone density, but that is easily accomplished by eating any of the aforementioned foods or spending a very small amount of time in the sun (you only need about 15 minutes twice a week).
A quick note about maternal milk, don’t worry too much about missing out, as this contains failry low levels of vitamin D anyway when compared to cow’s milk, fortified cereals, and UV exposure.
Cheers