Doctors explain how vitamin D deficiency can affect bone health

Olga Malinovskaya of the KDL | Medscan laboratory network warned that reduced autumn sunlight may increase the risk of inadequate vitamin D, which helps maintain bone strength.

In comments published by NEWS.ru on October 9, Malinovskaya linked the risk to reduced vitamin D production in the skin. The arrival of autumn does not, however, mean everyone develops a deficiency.

Olga Barabonina, who directs the network's Saratov branches, highlighted older people, women going through menopause and people with obesity. She also estimated that up to 70–80% of people in Russia have inadequate vitamin D, but the report provides no study or methodology supporting that figure.

The US National Institutes of Health confirms that prolonged vitamin D deficiency can impair bone mineralisation and weaken bones. Its listed risk factors include limited sunlight exposure and older people's reduced ability to produce the vitamin in their skin.