Vitamin-D Deficiency Among Asian Immigrants to Britain

Vitamin D deficiency and hyperparathyroidism in relation to ethnicity: a cross-sectional survey in healthy adults

“…The problem of high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among adults in Europe is not new, it was first reported in the 1970s amongst immigrant populations of Asian origin resident in the United Kingdom and more recently in other Europeans countries [9,24,25,28,33].…”

Global vitamin D status and determinants of hypovitaminosis D

“…Immigrants from Asian countries and asylum seekers carry a high risk for severe vitamin D deficiency [40,[66][67][68]. Serum 25(OH)D was lower than 25 nmol/l in 40% of non-Western immigrants in the Netherlands [69].…”

“…Population studies in Europe have shown that immigrants and asylum seekers from Asian, Middle Eastern, or African origins have greater risks of low vitamin D levels [66][67][68][69][70]. Country of origin, genetic traits, and cultural behaviour are important factors in determining vitamin D levels.…”

A Potential Risk for Osteomalacia due to Sociocultural Lyfestyle in Turkish Women.

“…This is especially true of elderly patients who are hospitalized, institutionalized or stay indoors and fail to receive either adequate sunlight exposure or dietary supplements of vitamin D [1--3]. Covering skin in the outdoors was suggested to be a contributing factor to the development of osteomalacia particularly in strict vegetarians, but it had not been reported as a predisposing major factor in otherwise healthy women, especially those who have been living in countries with adequate sunlight [4][5][6][7][8][9]. Osteomalacia in adults may go unrecognized even in the presence of classical symptoms [10].…”

“…Vitamin D deficiency is the major cause of the disease. Whereas it was formerly thought that vitamin D deficiency due to inadequate sunlight exposure rarely caused osteomalacia, certain social, environmental and cultural developments have almost certainly led to an increased incidence of this problem [4][5][6][7][8]. Usually this problem was suggested to be confined to the elderly [1][2][3], but it was also reported that migrating from areas of intense ultraviolet exposure to areas with marginal ultraviolet exposure can lead to the development of osteomalacia, especially in people who habitually cover their skin excessively.…”