Are You Getting Enough Vitamin D?

Patients with chronic liver disease often have vitamin D deficiencies, say scientists presenting new research at the 73rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology.

Vitamin D is probably best-known for its role in bone development and maintenance, but it's also involved in our immune system, brain and reproductive system, to name just a few. A lack of vitamin D causes osteomalacia in adults and the infamous rickets in children, and you don't want to worry about dealing with either if you have advanced liver disease.

The liver is a type of "converter" for vitamin D by changing it from a form the body can't use to a form the body can use. This process works fine for most people, but when someone has advanced liver disease (like cirrhosis), the liver just can't keep up and deficiencies develop.

How can this deficiency be prevented? Most people should be able to get the proper amount of vitamin D just being outside because vitamin D is made in the skin using sunlight. Understandably, someone very sick may not be able to enjoy the outdoors (or someone living where daylight is scarce in the winter) and this method of getting vitamin D isn't helpful. In these cases, vitamin D can come from the diet (good sources are fish, eggs, cod liver oil), but sometimes a supplement may be prescribed.

If this topic interests you, learn more about chronic disease and nutrition from "What Is the Best Diet for Cirrhosis" and "Chronic Hepatitis Nutrition".