Clinical Syndromes of Vitamin D and Phosphate Dysregulation

Vitamin D plays an important role in overall health, and we continue to learn more about its essential functions in the body: functions that extend well beyond the traditionally well-understood skeletal-health maintenance. Its extraskeletal roles extend to immune system modulation, cancer physiology regulation via vitamin D receptor-mediated signaling pathways, as well as cardiovascular disease pathogenesis. Hence it is not surprising that abnormal vitamin D levels could have a profound effect on human health and need to be addressed. Unfortunately, vitamin D deficiency is a worldwide phenomenon and often goes underdiagnosed. Given its far-reaching, and still not completely understood effects, vitamin D could well become the next “poster-boy” nutrient with consequences for public and preventive health. While this is still an active area of research, supplementation of vitamin D is becoming increasingly common and needs to be combined with a healthy dash of caution to prevent toxicity. Given its evolving and important role in health, vitamin D should be a high-priority subject for the medical community, as well as for public health education.