More than metabolic: Considering the broader paleoepidemiological impact of vitamin D deficiency in bioarchaeology

Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency has traditionally been viewed as a metabolic bone disease by bioarchaeologists and considered primarily in terms of the development of specific musculoskeletal changes used for diagnosis in paleopathological research. These skeletal manifestations are usually interpreted as representing general ill-health. Clinical research shows that vitamin D is also integral to a number of extra-skeletal physiological processes including immunoregulation, blood pressure homeostasis, cell division, and programmed cell death. Vitamin D deficiency and sub-clinical insufficiency are thought to be risk factors for infectious and autoimmune diseases, as well as certain cancers and cardiovascular diseases. Epidemiological work indicates that the skeletal manifestations of vitamin D deficiency represent the extreme end of a spectrum of morbidity associated with negative health outcomes, including increased risk for secondary tuberculosis. This article provides a review of clinical research on the extra-skeletal roles of vitamin D and the pathological consequences of poor vitamin D status. Additionally, it presents an interpretive model for bioarchaeological analyses of rickets and osteomalacia for consideration of the whole-body impact of poor vitamin D nutriture and possible comorbidities that may have affected the wider population. Am J Phys Anthropol 160:183-196, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Vitamin D deficiency in early implant failure: two case reports

“…Vitamin D demonstrates several effects on bone metabolism: it upregulates the gene expression of osteocalcin, osteopontin, calbindin, and 24-hydroxylase, increases extracellular matrix protein formation by osteoblasts, and stimulates osteoclast activity [15, 43]. But beyond modulation of bone formation, vitamin D has an impact on the innate and adaptive immune response in the field of osteoimmunology and could therefore influence early implant healing [19, 44–49]. …”

Latitude, urbanization, age, and sex as risk factors for vitamin D deficiency disease in the Roman Empire

“…In subadults, rickets is most often active in individuals under about 3 years of age (Ladhani, Srinivasan, Buchanan, & Allgrove, ), and it is in early life, when growth is most rapid, that it is most readily identified from skeletal changes (Brickley & Mays, ). Because rickets increases vulnerability to other diseases, including life‐threatening infections (Snoddy et al, ), it may lead to early mortality. Although some may persist into adulthood, many bone deformities due to childhood rickets are gradually removed during growth and remodeling (Hess, ; Prakash, Mehtani, Sud, & Reddy, ).…”

“…In paleopathology, disease due to vitamin D deficiency in the growing skeleton is termed rickets; in the adult it is termed osteomalacia. As well as its skeletal effects, deficiency of vitamin D also appears to increase an individual's vulnerability to a range of infectious and other diseases (Basit, ; Brickley, Moffat, & Watamaniuk, ; Snoddy, Buckley, & Halcrow, ). A variety of conditions may affect vitamin D metabolism, including various disorders of the gut, liver, and kidney (Resnick & Niwayama, , pp.…”

Vitamin D and It's Importance in Oral Healt

“…66 Vitamin D yetersizliği ve implantların erken kaybı arasındaki ilişki net olarak kanıtlanamamıştır. [66][67][68][69][70][71][72] D Vitamini periodontal hastalığın riskini kemik mineral dansitesi veya immunmodülatör olarak etkilemektedir. Periodontitis ve kemik metabolizması arasında bilimsel olarak kanıtlanmış bir korelasyon mevcuttur.…”