Expert Seeks Public Awareness As Vitamin D Deficiency Raises Health Concerns

A medical doctor and public health advocate, Dr Oluwayemisi Adegboye, has called for increased public awareness of vitamin D deficiency in Nigeria, warning that the country’s abundant sunshine does not guarantee adequate levels of the essential nutrient.

Adegboye, who is the chair of the Health Team at DoTheDream YDI and FCT coordinator of the Vitamin D Enhancement Project, said lifestyle, dietary habits, skin pigmentation and certain medical conditions could affect the body’s ability to produce or obtain sufficient vitamin D.

In an article titled, “The Silent Thief of Health: Why Vitamin D Deficiency Deserves Nigeria’s Attention,” she said research across Africa, including studies involving Nigerian women and newborns, had highlighted the need to pay greater attention to vitamin D status.

She noted that although the body produces vitamin D when ultraviolet B radiation from sunlight reaches exposed skin, factors such as age, time spent outdoors, clothing, skin pigmentation and the amount of exposed skin influence its production.

According to her, vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption, healthy bones and teeth, and normal muscle function, while severe or prolonged deficiency can cause rickets in children and osteomalacia, a condition that softens the bones in adults.

She added that the vitamin also plays a role in normal immune function, cautioning against portraying it as a cure-all or a guaranteed means of preventing diseases.

Adegboye said dietary sources, including oily fish such as mackerel and sardines, egg yolks and liver, could help improve vitamin D intake, while some fortified foods and supplements could provide additional sources where necessary.

She, however, stressed that supplementation should be guided by individual needs and medical advice, warning that excessive doses could cause dangerously high calcium levels and other complications.

On maternal and newborn health, the medical doctor explained that vitamin D passes from a pregnant woman to her developing baby through the placenta, making maternal nutritional status an important consideration during pregnancy.

She said severe vitamin D deficiency in newborns could contribute to neonatal hypocalcaemia, a condition characterised by dangerously low calcium levels in the blood that could lead to seizures in severe cases.

Prolonged deficiency during childhood could also cause rickets, potentially resulting in weak bones, impaired growth and skeletal deformities.

However, she cautioned that studies investigating links between low maternal vitamin D levels and pregnancy complications, including pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes and preterm birth, had produced varying findings.

She said such associations should not automatically be interpreted as proof that vitamin D deficiency directly causes these complications.

Adegboye also called for more representative research to establish the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency across Nigeria, noting that findings from individual hospitals or selected populations could not be used to determine the situation nationwide.

Citing a systematic review and meta-analysis published in The Lancet Global Health in 2020, she said research covering 23 African countries had identified low vitamin D levels as a concern among the populations studied, although prevalence varied according to the groups examined and the thresholds used to define deficiency.

She said the findings underscored the need for better national data to identify vulnerable populations and guide appropriate interventions.

“The absence of a definitive national estimate is not a reason to ignore the issue. It is a reason to improve the evidence while communicating carefully about what is already known,” she said.

The public health advocate urged Nigerians experiencing persistent symptoms that could be associated with deficiency to seek professional medical assessment rather than rely on self-diagnosis.

She explained that symptoms such as bone pain and muscle weakness could occur in people with vitamin D deficiency, but fatigue, back pain and mood changes were nonspecific and could result from other medical conditions.