Vitamin D — is everything as simple as it seems?

Abstract

Even centuries after the discovery of vitamin D, there are gaps in understanding the role of its endocrine system. It is clear that vitamin D is important for stimulation of calcium absorption in the intestines in normal/low calcium intake, and, as a result, it is needed to maintain normal calcium homeostasis and bone growth. In addition, numerous pleiotropic actions of vitamin D were identified. This article contains information on vitamin D metabolism, its importance for general health, main directions of examination and optimal treatment strategy, as well as possible complications of treatment. Also, attention was paid to laboratory diagnosis as a method for determining vitamin D deficiency and controlling possible complications in vitamin D treatment.

Keywords

• vitamin D
• calcitriol
• 1-alpha-hydroxylase
• deficiency
• insufficiency