• DOI:10.1097/00060793-200202000-00011
• Corpus ID: 87725403

Vitamin D: the underappreciated D-lightful hormone that is important for skeletal and cellular health

@article{Holick2002VitaminDT,
  title={Vitamin D: the underappreciated D-lightful hormone that is important for skeletal and cellular health},
  author={Michael F Holick},
  journal={Current Opinion in Endocrinology \& Diabetes},
  year={2002},
  volume={9},
  pages={87-98}
}

• M. Holick
• Published 1 February 2002
• Medicine, Biology
• Current Opinion in Endocrinology & Diabetes

Vitamin D deficiency is more common than realized. It is making a resurgence in neonates and is common in black patients and older adults. Vitamin D deficiency not only causes generalized muscle weakness, muscle aches, and bone aches and pains but also can precipitate and exacerbate osteoporosis and cause osteomalacia. Although the kidney plays a critical role in producing 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, which is important for regulating calcium, phosphorus, and bone metabolism, it is now recognized that a wide variety of other tissues have the enzymatic machinery to produce 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. Vitamin D receptors are common in most tissues in the body, and the new revelation that many tissues produce 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D suggests a new important role for this hormone in helping to maintain good health throughout life.