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Press release
Millions of Britons have a greater risk of developing potentially fatal health conditions, such as coronary heart disease and cancer, because of low vitamin D levels, says a new scientific review by Dr Carrie Ruxton.
 

Despite the proven health benefits of vitamin D, about three quarters of British adults fail to reach even their basic requirements thanks to poor dietary intakes and a lack of sun in the UK. Elderly people in particular could be cutting years off their lifespan by not getting enough vitamin D as their skin is less efficient in producing the vitamin from sunlight.
 

Now nutrition experts are calling for the shortfall in our diets to be made up by improved dietary intakes, together with vitamin D supplementation. At present, there are no dietary vitamin D recommendations for most people aged 4 to 50 years, resulting in confusion.
 

The new review, called ‘Health Impacts of Vitamin D: Are We Getting Enough?’, will be published in the Nutrition Bulletin journal this month (May). It was commissioned by the Health Supplements Information Service. In the review, Dr Carrie Ruxton and her colleague, Dr Emma Derbyshire, examined more than 140 published studies, finding that vitamin D was important for maintaining health and lowering the risk of chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cognitive impairment. Yet, vitamin D levels amongst UK adults and children were worrying low.
 

Dr Ruxton said: “Taking the evidence as a whole, it would seem that British adults and children are at increased risk of chronic disease due to a lack of vitamin D. We need to re-examine UK vitamin D recommendations and encourage consumers to take in more dietary vitamin D, from foods and supplements, in order to address this problem".