Vitamin D deficiency probably related to restrictive diet... Any experts?

[HariboFrenzy]

I've just been told my vit d levels are low. I've not spoken to the Dr yet so don't know the exact levels. The reason I was tested in the first place is I've been dairy and egg free for over 12 months as I'm breastfeeding DS who is allergic. Main symptom was poor memory.

I've googled vit d deficiency but can't find that much, especially about it affecting memory. Given my restricted diet is it likely that calcium will be affected too?

How long will it take for me to notice a difference?

Does this mean my ds is also likely to be affected too? Should he be tested too?? He is 19 months.

Bettertobehealthy - there's one point in your most recent post that answered something I've found puzzling. People in northern Europe, at least the upper classes, have been wearing clothing from head to foot for centuries, although they didn't use sunscreen. So, were they all vit d deficient back then? But: consumption of vegetable oil rather than animal fat containing VitD must be a contributory factor. There's a current thread elsewhere where people are reminiscing about their younger days in the 1960s, and many posters recall the "bread and dripping", which I also remember very well.

Up until fairly recently, people used butter or lard for cakes and pastry; spread butter on their bread; fried food in butter or lard; a good beef joint/steak had fat marbled throughout it; people ate offal such as liver and kidneys. And then came the obesity crisis, and all that was to be off the menu if we wanted to be healthy. But that reduced the amount of vit D, and increased the amount of sugar in bought foodstuffs because low-fat is fairly tasteless. It seems that only recently it's being proposed that the obesity problem is related to sugar consumption rather than animal fats.

I've read threads here about what's acceptable for toddlers and young children, especially in packed lunches in school, and it seems that it's low-fat all the way. I wonder what health problems might result from that. My DGS is dairy-free because of CMPI, but his mum is very good at doing research so ensures he's getting all the nutrients he needs. One of her friends has been vegetarian since a teenager, but has always been good at doing research, so also knows the alternatives. But many people don't do research because they don't feel the need to do that. They follow official guidelines, and it's increasingly obvious there are issues with those.

@Bettertobehealthy thank you so much. I was initially thinking to supplement with 3000 iu but as it shouldn't hurt I will follow you advice and try 5000. I guess if there's no improvement at 3 months I will need to go back to GP. Hoping if it is hormonal it's something very short lived as planning on TTC in the second half of this year, eek!

Icy I agree with you. Butter and animal fat somehow seem more 'natural' than some of the scary stuff added to food. Being dairy free has really opened my eyes as to how much junk is added to foods

Here is a short video clip ....vimeo.com/92747342 , with a few facts and figures re Vit D.

yes icy , there were more sources of Vit d in days gone by . 2000 IU in a piece of pie made with pig lard..!! See the video . There is NO vitamin D in cows milk , or butter , however , unless specifically fortified, which will be shown on the label. Grass fed cows will produce vitamin K2 in their milk , and butter. Thus grass fed is better than cheap corn fed butters from the Vit K2 point of view. So, butters like Kerrygold , or Anchor would be a better choice.

    <strong>haribo</strong>        I notice that you are dairy free,   please make sure you get plenty of calcium in your food.      If you have low vitamin D , you will not be able to absorb it very efficiently from your food.     When you reach about 80 nmol/litre Vit D,  absorption becomes maximally efficient. However , if you are not consuming much , then there might not be enough to absorb.  If you are breastfeeding , then you will need plenty..!      Sardines with bone in ,   plenty of dark greens etc, are just a couple of good sources. The greens will also provide magnesium,   a known co-factor  required to utilise the Vitamin D that you do have.  Vitamin D enables you to <span class="underline">regulate</span> the amount of calcium you absorb , to your exact requirement. It does not make you absorb too much. 

Best of luck

BTBH

Thanks BTBH I knew there was a link between bit and calcium but was fuzzy on the details! I've been dairy free for almost 17 months now but calcium levels were apparently fine (serum calcium 2.25 nmol/L) although I've no idea of the normal range. Does that sound ok to you?

haribo Yes your blood calcium of 2.25_mmol_/l looks good ! This show that your parathyroid hormone system is working properly.

  Let me explain -     blood calcium is always in a tight range  2.1 to 2.6 ,   unless you are desperately ill.  It has to be there , in order to keep your  nerves and muscles working correctly. If your blood calcium becomes low, your body will make adjustments by increasing the parathyroid hormone (PTH) to instruct the kidneys to make more 1,25D3 hormone which instructs the bowel to absorb more of the calcium you have ingested. However , this increase in parathryoid (PTH) ALSO , in some circumstances, will instruct your bones to release calcium into your blood, i.e. de-mineralise the bones, in order to keep blood calcium where it needs to be.      
 Now consider what would happen ,  if the bowel cannot absorb the calcium you need from your food , then the bones would  supply the extra that you need.   It is this response which could lead , to osteopenia, osteoporosis, osteomalacia etc.   It is not the only reason , but one of several. The ability of the bowel to supply calcium from your food , depends upon the amount of calcium you ingest  and the level of vitD hormone 1,25D3 , that is present , which depends upon how much VitD3 you have.  It has been measured that you need a blood level of at least 80 nmol/l  25D3 to optimise the regulation of absorption of calcium from the bowel.  by keeping your level there or above ( pref  at least 120 ) , you reduce the chances of those bone diseases later in life.      If you are short of vitaminD  , or calcium , your body may respond by overly raising parathyroid (PTH) levels, this would  be called secondary hyperparathyroidism, and is not a good situation to be in ,   as it could lead to an excessive increase in the speed  of bone remodelling, which could lead to those weaker bones/fractures etc etc. in later life.        

      here endeth  the lecture ....lol. 

Hope this is useful, best of luck

BTBH

until fairly recently people used fish oil to supplement. and in some nordic countries they still do (norway and iceland come to mind)
some of us might remember that awful spoon of cod liver oil that we were forced to take...

and boney fish, like kippers (that hardly anyone eats nowadays)
we also used to get the spinal discs from between halibut bones.

bumping this thread because vit d so important and so underestimated by most of the population.

Haribo, I hope you got your levels up to at least 100, 36 is very low. My GP recommends 70-100 at least. I take 2000iu a day and initially I was prescribed a large loading dose of much much more (cannot remember now, but in region of 40,000 or 20,000 a week for a few weeks)

people with a very good diet can still have a vitamin d deficiency unless they are eating fish oil all the time. It mostly through sunshine April to Sept 11-3pm, not diet.