Editorial: Defeat the ‘D’ deficiency – be sun smart

Vitamin D, also known as the ‘sunshine vitamin’, is an essential hormone widely known to be involved in bone health. However, bone diseases are now being considered as the tip of the vitamin D deficiency iceberg. Increasing evidence from several epidemiological and in vitro studies indicates a protective role of vitamin D in a range of systemic illnesses like diabetes, multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular diseases, joint diseases, schizophrenia, depression and malignancy. Recent studies have also shown its role in skin aging. These beneficial effects are known to be due to its wide range of biological activities in cell differentiation, proliferation and immune functions and because of the fact that most tissues and cells in the body have vitamin D receptors and enzymes to convert the inactive form of vitamin D to the active form.