The sunshine vitamin – Vitamin D

We are lucky enough to live in a country that has a lot of wealth and resources. Most of us will not struggle to meet the basic requirements of living and have diets that, even if they can be a little excessive sometime, meet most of our body’s nutrient requirements. However there is still one nutrient deficiency that is widespread in most developed countries – That nutrient is vitamin D.

This is not a completely new story; the Victorians battled epidemics of rickets which caused bone growth to be stunted and the characteristic “bow-legged” deformity that affected them from the remainder of their life (if not treated). These are extreme symptoms but they illustrate the power of vitamin D.

In modern times, in industrialized countries, serious deficiency in children has been eradicated, but a shocking 25% of the UK population does not have adequate stores of vitamin D in their body (during winter months). The problem is worst in the most vulnerable in our community – pregnant, elderly and young children, but this is still an important issue for most people.

So what are the effects? – the best reasons to top up this summer.

Bones: Vitamin D is the main gatekeeper for calcium in your body. Too little and your body starts stripping your bones of calcium. This is the cause of osteoporosis and osteopenia (bone pain and weakness that can effect even adults!)

Brain: Vitamin D has effects on the brain. There is growing research into vitamin D and mental health through the lifespan from Schizophrenia to depression.

Cancer and diseases: Low vitamin D levels linked to Cancer, Heart disease, diabetes and general immune health.

95% of the vitamin D in your body is due to the sun, while vitamin D is present in foods (oily fish, eggs, and fortified cereals) these are not an important as what you do in the next few months.

The rule of thumb for vitamin D and sun

-      The season needs to start with an S (that’s spring and summer)

In countries that are at a higher latitude (that’s close to the north of south pole), the angle of the sun during winter means that the UV rays that your body uses to make vitamin D is filtered out. So the warmer summer months are the only time you can create and store your own vitamin D

-      You should have a short shadow

The middle of the day, when the sun is above you the UVB rays will be at their strongest. At this time, your body will create a good amount of vitamin D with just 15 minutes exposure to 5% of your body.

The lesson here is, you don’t have to sunbath, you don’t have to burn and you don’t need to be an outdoors-sort-of-person to get enough vitamin D. So when your outdoors for a long time sunscreen and hats are a great ideal to protect against damage to your skin, but 15 minutes outside at lunch will do a lot to top up your vitamin D ready for the long winter, which is really a famine in terms of this key vitamin.