The JURY is out on this

Suddenly, everywhere you turn, there are people deficient in Vitamin D and therefore on medication for it.
Is this just a fad or is there something in our environment that is causing this deficiency?
The jury is out. Some doctors say this deficiency has been overlooked for a long while others say it is being overemphasised. Dr. Asha Rao, Director Rao Hospital, also wondered about that. “But I am a believer now,” she says.
“Randomised Control Trials in the West have found that vitamin D deficiency can aggravate diabetes, decrease fertility and could cause problems in the foetus.” Dr. Rao says 60 per cent of her patients have been advised to take the test. For several reasons. “We do not get as much as sun as we used to. We are indoors for longer hours. Our lifestyles have changed. Sometimes existing ailments are amplified by a Vitamin D deficiency.” She also says, “I was amazed by an article in a medical journal that stated that a correction in Vitamin D could be a factor in preventing a number of women getting breast cancer!”
Vitamin D deficiency has always been there, says Consultant Physiatrist, Neck and Back Pain Clinic, Dr. B. Palanisami, but people did not routinely get tested for it.
He says that the Indian skin needs longer hours of sun exposure to get sufficient amounts of the vitamin. “That is one reason senior citizens may suffer this deficiency. Either they hardly move out of their homes or they go out early in the mornings or at sundown.” But Dr. Palani says there is no need to be alarmed. “Just as it was overlooked for so many years, it is now being overemphasised,” he states and cautions that there is also something called taking too much of Vitamin D.
According to Dr. Edwin Joe, Dean, CMCH, just standing outdoors with your face to the sun isn’t going to cut it. “There is a process that allows absorption of sunlight into the body. If there are other things wrong with our body this will not happen.” He agrees that in some cases taking vitamin D supplements has also become something of a fad. “If we have enough physical activity, our muscles and bones will work fine; the less we work, the more problems there will be. And only taking excess Vitamin D is not going to help.”
He does however say that menopausal women and older people may be deficient.
About the patients in GH, he says, “We don’t go looking for a Vitamin D deficiency. If we find it we treat it. When there are cases of back pain, unusual tiredness or weak bones, we prescribe Vitamin D. If the patient shows improvement we continue with it.”