The NHS is urging everyone in the UK to take a daily Vitamin D supplement starting from tomorrow, as the country enters the darker months when sunlight is insufficient for the body to produce the vitamin naturally.
The health service advises that people living in the UK should take a Vitamin D pill every day between October and March. This is because Vitamin D is produced when direct sunlight hits the skin, but during autumn and winter, the sun is not strong enough, and people are generally not outside enough for the body to make Vitamin D.
Why Vitamin D is needed
The NHS website states: "From about late March or early April to the end of September, most people should be able to make all the vitamin D they need from sunlight. The body creates vitamin D from direct sunlight on the skin when outdoors. But between October and early March we do not make enough vitamin D from sunlight."
The vitamin is needed to regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body and keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy, according to the NHS. A lack of vitamin D can lead to bone deformities such as rickets in children, and bone pain caused by a condition called osteomalacia in adults.
Recommended daily doses
All adults, and children above the age of 1 year, need 10 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin D a day, according to the NHS. Babies up to the age of 1 year need slightly less - between 8.5 to 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day.
Microgram is sometimes written with the Greek symbol μ followed by the letter g - μg - and it may also be expressed as International Units (IU), where 10 micrograms of vitamin D would be equal to 400 IU.
The NHS warns that taking more than 100 micrograms (4,000 IU) of vitamin D a day could be harmful. Taking too many vitamin D supplements over a long period of time can cause too much calcium to build up in the body, weakening the bones and damaging the kidneys and the heart.
Food sources and all-year-round supplements
It is recommended that people try to get vitamin D from their diet during the autumn and winter. The vitamin can be found in a small number of foods, such as oily fish (including salmon, sardines, trout, herring or mackerel), red meat, egg yolks, fortified foods (including some fat spreads and breakfast cereals), and liver (although the NHS recommends that pregnant people avoid liver).
According to the NHS, cows' milk is generally not a good source of vitamin D in the UK because it is not fortified, as it is in some other countries. The NHS says it is difficult for people to get enough vitamin D from food alone, which is why it is recommended that people take a daily supplement.
Some people may need to take a Vitamin D pill during the summer months too. The Department of Health and Social Care recommends that adults and children over four years take a daily 10mcg Vitamin D supplement throughout the year if they are not often outdoors (for example, if they're frail or housebound), are in an institution like a care home, or usually wear clothes that cover up most of their skin when outdoors.
The NHS adds: "If you have dark skin – for example you have an African, African-Caribbean or south Asian background – you may also not make enough vitamin D from sunlight. You should consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the year."
All children aged 1 to 4 years old should be given a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the year, according to the NHS. The Department of Health and Social Care recommends that babies from birth to 1 year of age should have a daily supplement containing 8.5 to 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the year if they are breastfed, or formula-fed and are having less than 500ml (about a pint) of infant formula a day, as infant formula is already fortified with vitamin D.
