Even when people with chronic pancreatitis take pills to help digest food, many still lack important vitamins like D, A, and E—because their pancreas can’t properly absorb fats, and those vitamins come with fat.

People with a long-term pancreas problem that stops it from digesting food properly often lack key vitamins like D, A, and E—more than half are low in vitamin D, which can happen because their body can’t absorb fats well.

People with long-term pancreas inflammation often lack vitamin D — about 6 in 10 of them do — but even those with very damaged pancreases aren’t more likely to be deficient than those with milder damage, so how bad the pancreas looks on a scan doesn’t tell you if someone needs more vitamin D.