Is vitamin D deficiency a public health problem in Australia? Ensure this component achieve the following: a clear and concise background to the problem including its consequences and at-risk groups;...

Running Header: VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY – AUSTRALIA 1
Vitamin D Deficiency – Australia
Vitamin D Deficiency – Australia 2
Vitamin D Deficiency – Australia
Is vitamin D deficiency a public health problem in Australia?
Vitamin D deficiency is a common problem all over Australia and above 30% adults are
more likely to fall victim to this either in mild, moderate or severe deficiency. Low levels of
this vitamin is linked with joint and bone pains, increased falls and bone fractures in older
adults, rickets in serious cases and even unborn child is highly affected if the pregnant mother
uns in low levels of vitamin D and Calcium.
3
Thus, it is required to balance the exposure in
sun rays according to the seasonal changes. As mentioned in the article of “osteoporosis
Australia”, in the summer, Australian people must be exposed to sun at mid-afternoon or
mid-morning and when UV index reaches above 3, sun protection measures must be used
sufficiently.
3
It was reported that approximately one third Australia adults suffers from vitamin D
deficiency and more than 11,000 people all round the country are detected with this vitamin
deficiency. It was mentioned in Deakin article
2
that women tends to be more prone to
Vitamin D deficiency. The same article also reported that obese and elder people who do less
than 2.5 hours of daily activities or physical exercises, they also fall under the category of
victims. The first national study of evaluation of vitamin D status in Australian people was
conducted under study leader Professor Robin Daly, a nutrition researcher and an honourable
personality of Deakin University and he said that despite of sufficient sunlight in Australia,
the people in here fails to activate vitamin D in their immune system and thus it had emerged
as a major health problem in the nation.
2, 5
Again, Sarah Be
y in the Sydney Morning Herald
3
reported that 58% of Australians are
deficient in Vitamin D and unlike other reports which showed that 23 to 31% people are only
Vitamin D Deficiency – Australia 3
affected are proved to be wrong by this report. It was also found that the problem gets severe
in spring. Professor Steven Boyages had told the newspaper that this severity was perhaps the
consequences of working long hours and staying indoors to avoid exposure to sun rays.
3
As
there is tremendous UVA and UVB radiation, people are likely to remain indoors in cool
temperatures as over exposure to these rays can be a contributing reason of skin cancer. But
this on the other hand is hampering calcium absorption due to insufficient activation of
vitamin D in the body. This deficiency are very much linked with
ittle bones, cancer,
diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
13-14
What action is cu
ently being taken in Australia to address Vitamin D deficiency at a
population level?
Vitamin D levels in the body can be measured on a separate basis or as a whole. It is to be
mentioned here that not all immunoassays have the same reaction to vitamin D2 and D3.
Some test can only detect any one type of vitamin D while others may not fully detect the
whole amount. But whatever test would be performed, it has to be remembered that the most
important detection of this vitamin is finding the total serum levels of 25 hydroxy-vitamin D
(D2+D3) in the blood.
2, 3
This test will effectively determine the accurate result and
treatments can also be initiated accurately with this assay.
Now, if assay failed to detect vitamin d2 in case of a true concentration in terms of vitamin D
ange for sufficiency, then the result of the assay will be reported in the insufficient range and
the same thing will be done if the assay detects only a fraction of vitamin D2. So, in order to
get an accurate detection, an assay is to be performed that can effectively detect both vitamin
D2 and D3 in an equal aspect.
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Vitamin D Deficiency – Australia 4
Again if a patient gets treated with high dose of vitamin D for malabsorption, then different
eactivity of both vitamin D2 and D3 are likely to be misidentified in the patient’s blood
status. Simultaneously partial detection of these vitamins will also unde
eport patient’s total
concentration of this vitamin and treatment procedure will be hampered.
9
As vitamin D deficiency is attaining a major risk factor in Australia, people are prescribed by
the doctors to measure serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration as this test will determine
the total vitamin D reserves in the body. Treatment is required when a 25-hydroxyvitamin D
eaches a threshold of 50 nanomol/L at the end of the winter.
Preservation of vitamin D in the body is essential to maintain musculoskeletal function. There
are multiple metabolites of this vitamin that are present in human circulation. Normally,
vitamin D is synthesized with the help of ultraviolet B rays of the Sun exposure. It is also
obtained indirectly from foods. 25-hydroxyvitamin D and 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D are the
two major circulating forms of vitamin D in the human body.
14
While 1, 25-
dihydroxyvitamin D is the activated form of vitamin D in the body but deficiency of this
vitamin is actually measured by the serum concentration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Moreover
25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration in the blood declines in winter in Australian people.
Moderate to severe deficiency of this vitamin is marked by <30...