Vitamin D Deficiency Can Cause Kidney, Liver Diseases--Expert

A public health physician, Dr Baba Ahmed, said in Abuja on Thursday that the lack of vitamin D could cause chronic liver or kidney disease.
Ahmed, who works with the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS), expressed the view in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said that the function of vitamin D was to maintain serum calcium and phosphorus concentration within the range that supported neuromuscular function.
The neuromuscular system is the combination of the nervous system and the muscles, working together to permit movement.
According him, vitamin D deficiency is commonly noticed early in children than in adults.
He said the lack of Vitamin D in children resulted in rickets,  while the deficiency in adults led to osteromalacia.

 ``Osteromalacia is the softening of the bones caused by defective bone, while rickets is a condition in which the knees touch but the ankles do not touch.
``When a child that is supposed to be standing is not standing and it is not that the child has any other physical disability, the condition can be described as a high index.
``Again, you may observe that the child’s lower limbs, especially between the knees, begin to knock together (rickets; a disease caused by a lack of vitamin D),” he said.
He said that such a condition could require the screening of a person’s calcium to ascertain whether it was normal, adding that ``if not normal, it indicates a lack of vitamin D”.
Ahmed said that such a situation also indicated that the child was not properly fed with food rich in vitamin ‘D’.
 Ahmed, however, said that vitamin D deficiency could be managed if detected early, adding that ``discovering it after the damage would not change the condition.
 ``Even after giving the necessary vitamin D supplement, it will just stall the progress but the damage has been done.”
He said that vitamin D sources were basically fatty substances, such as vegetables, plant oil, such as soya oil, sun flower oil, groundnut oil, among others.
``Others are butter, egg yolk, cod liver oil, sardine, liver, some brands of margarine and sunlight.
``We also have animal sources, such as beef and goat meat, kidney and liver. They are rich in vitamin D when boiled moderately,’’ Ahmed said.
He advised against frying of oil to avoid losing vital ingredients.
``Palm oil in its natural form contains many of vitamins, such as vitamin A, E and D,” he said.

-NAN