According to a 2010 study at the University of Newcastle, 50% of the adult British population are deficient in Vitamin D and 16% of us suffer from a severe deficiency in the winter months. The research identified that the problem was far more prevalent in the North of the UK especially amongst people of Asian and African descent due to the darker pigmentation of the skin reducing absorption of sunlight.
The other contributing factors include staying indoors all the working day, consistent use of sunscreen rather than allowing 20-30mins of allowed exposure and children playing computer games indoors instead of playing outside.
The over use of sunscreen is becoming a real problem with more fair skinned individuals, who need to protect themselves from the sun as they are more at risk from burning. The suggested solution for more fair skinned people is the use of supplements, such as Vitabiotics Ultra D3. It has also been suggested that fair skinned people have difficulty synthesising Vitamin D from sunlight .
Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption in the gut and is also key in bone growth and remodelling. A deficiency in Vitamin D can lead to bones becoming thin, brittle or misshapen. These lead to conditions such as rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Vitamin D is also required for both cell growth and immune function. Although a main source is sunlight on the skin, there are also a number of foods that are rich in Vitamin D such as liver, egg yolk and oily fish e.g. salmon, tuna and mackerel. As mentioned previously, there are also a number of supplements available from your pharmacy, both over the counter and via prescription. Many of these supplements also contain calcium to combat the lack of calcium absorption that is a result of Vitamin D deficiency.
The easiest way to find out if you’re suffering with insufficient Vitamin D levels is to visit your GP and ask for a Vitamin D test. If you are suffering with or want to avoid Vitamin D deficiency this winter consider the above changes to diet and lifestyle or the use of a vitamin supplement such as Adcal D3.
Winter is almost upon us and as usual the cooler weather signals the start of the cold and flu season. Both the common cold and th flu are viral infections and cannot be treated with antibiotics. The symptoms for both can usually be managed by a fit and healthy indivdual with a combination of rest and non-alcoholic fluid intake. Thankfully there is also a wide range of products available to buy to treat the symptoms of both colds and the flu to make your cold and flu season a little more bearable.
