23-year-old collapses at work from severe vitamin D deficiency
Saskia Reeves-Priestley, a 23-year-old special needs teacher who played football four times a week, collapsed at work with critically low vitamin D levels.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Saskia Reeves-Priestley, 23, collapsed at work due to severe vitamin D deficiency
- National Diet and Nutrition Survey data shows nearly a quarter of 11- to 18-year-olds in the UK are deficient
- Doctors warn the condition is a silent disease that is difficult to spot and frequently misdiagnosed
Twenty-three-year-old special educational needs teacher Saskia Reeves-Priestley was working when she suddenly collapsed without any prior warning. She described feeling extremely dizzy, nauseous, experiencing heart palpitations, and feeling intensely hot, despite considering herself fit and healthy as a keen goalkeeper who played football four times a week.
Subsequent blood tests revealed her vitamin D levels were practically nonexistent. According to data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey in the UK, nearly a quarter of 11- to 18-year-olds were classified as deficient last year, a rate showing an increasing trend particularly among girls and young women.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
While vitamin D can be obtained through diet from foods like oily fish, meat, and supplements, the majority is synthesized by the body when UV sunlight strikes the skin. Factors such as geographical location, time of year, wearing protective clothing, and applying sunscreen reduce the body's production capacity. Additionally, individuals with darker skin require stronger light exposure to generate the same amount of vitamin D as those with lighter skin.
Doctors do not routinely offer blood tests to check for vitamin D deficiency unless patients express concern over high-risk factors. While the deficiency causes rickets in infants, it leads to a bone-weakening condition called osteomalacia in adults. Dr. Suma Uday, a paediatric endocrinologist seeking to raise awareness, describes it as a silent disease and warns that the deficiency in young people and adults is hard to spot, easily missed, or misdiagnosed, with symptoms including fatigue alongside joint and bone pain.
"They call it the silent disease."
Dr. Suma Uday
Amaka Osu, a university student in Liverpool, experienced shaking while cooking dinner and noted that although her mother had suffered from low vitamin D, she never realized it could happen to her. Dr. Uday, alongside other clinicians and academics forming the ACT NOW Vitamin D group, is calling for higher diagnostic thresholds to catch more cases earlier. She also warns of a lifelong deficit affecting women across adolescence and pregnancy.
Vitamin D deficiency is frequently overlooked because initial symptoms mirror general lifestyle fatigue and stress. With modern indoor routines and limited seasonal sunlight exposure across northern regions, public health experts increasingly advocate for systemic policy interventions, such as mandatory food fortification practiced in countries like Canada and Sweden.
Professor Martin Hewison notes that governments should examine wider mandatory food fortification during production, whereas the UK currently relies on voluntary fortification in items like breakfast cereals and spreads. Saskia Reeves-Priestley is now taking regular vitamin D supplements and has successfully returned to playing as a football goalkeeper.
Source: BBC Health
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