Government experts are proposing that everyone in the UK should consider taking vitamin D supplements to compensate for the country's lack of sunshine. The draft guidelines from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) recommend that everyone over the age of one should take a daily 10 microgram pill.
Currently, only at-risk groups such as pregnant women, children under five, and the over-65s are advised to take supplements. However, the SACN argues that since there is no easy way to determine who has insufficient vitamin D levels, a blanket recommendation would be beneficial for the entire population. The risk of taking too much vitamin D is considered extremely low.
Official estimates suggest that one in five adults and one in six children in England may have low vitamin D levels. Most vitamin D is obtained from sunlight on the skin, but the low level of sunlight during winter months puts UK residents at risk. The amount of vitamin D in food is also small, unlike many other vitamins.
The draft advice follows recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which advises the NHS on treatments. NICE has already suggested that vitamin D should be more widely given to combat what it describes as a hidden epidemic of deficiency. The NICE guidelines called for more free supplements and for supermarkets to sell low-cost tablets.
