Low levels of vitamin D have been linked to a variety of health problems, including diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer. However, new evidence suggests that vitamin D deficiency may also be related to chronic widespread pain in women. Severe vitamin D deficiency has previously been associated with osteomalacia, a serious disorder of bone mineralization, which causes generalized bone pain. However, the relationship between vitamin D and pain in the general population has not previously been investigated.
A recent study examined pain scores and blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D – a non-active storage form of vitamin D) among nearly 7000, 45 year old men and women from England, Scotland and Wales. The results indicated that low levels of vitamin D are associated with an increased incidence of chronic pain in women, but curiously, not in men. On average 14.4% of women with blood levels of 25[OH]D less than 25nmol/L experienced this type of pain, compared to only 8.2% of women with levels of 75-99nmol/L. However, men with 25[OH]D levels less than 25nmol/L did not suffer from an increased occurrence in chronic pain.
The mechanism by which vitamin d levels affect pain, and why this effect is limited to women, remains a mystery. It is possible that it is somehow related to vitamin D’s crucial role in bone health, and its regulation of estrogen activity in women. Many people, especially those living in northern climates, have lower than optimal levels of vitamin D. The results of this study add to an abundance of evidence highlighting the importance of maintaining healthy vitamin D levels .
Atherton K, Berry DJ, Parsons T, Macfarlane GJ, Power C, Hyppönen E. Vitamin D and chronic widespread pain in a white middle-aged British population: evidence from a cross-sectional population survey. Ann Rheum Dis. 2008; Early online publication.
For more information see D3-5000 or Vitamin D3
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