Time to get out the vitamin D
Nina Notman looks at recent advice to start popping vitamin D supplements during the shorter days
During these winter months it can feel like we never see the sun in the UK – arriving at our schools and offices before it has risen and leaving after it has gone down. One of the health concerns associated with this time of year is depleted vitamin D levels, with roughly one in five people in the UK reportedly now having low levels of this vitamin.
Unlike the other essential vitamins, food is not our main source of vitamin D – sunlight is. This gives it its nickname: the sunshine vitamin. But there is not sufficient UVB radiation in the sun’s rays that reach the UK, and indeed most of northern Europe, during the autumn and winter months for our bodies to synthesise enough of the chemical.
We previously thought that the vitamin D made during the summer months was enough to keep us healthy all year, but official guidance on this has recently changed.
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