Call to put vitamin D in f lour ‘to help NHS’

‘Current policies are not working’

FORTIFYING food with vitamin D would spare ten million people from the risk of health problems caused by deficiency in the nutrient, researchers say.

Experts at Birmingham University said mandatory fortification of vitamin D in wheat flour would significantly reduce the burden on the NHS. The researchers calculated the policy would cut vitamin D deficiency by a quarter.

Over the next 90 years this would cut the number of people suffering from vitamin D deficiency by 10million – slashing cases of rickets, muscle weakness and even heart failure.

Since 2016, Public Health England has advised people to take 10 micrograms in the winter of vitamin months. D supplement

But experts say it is unrealistic to expect people to follow the advice. Instead, they call for vitamin D to be added to common foods – a policy already used in the US, Canada, Sweden, Finland and Australia.

As well as saving lives, the policy – which would cost just 12p per person per year – would remove a huge burden on the NHS, and save the public purse £65million by reducing demand for healthcare and treatment for vitamin D deficiency and its complications. Vitamin D is known to strengthen bones and muscles – and evidence suggests it also prowriting tects against respiratory infections, boosts cognition and may even cut the chance of dying from cancer. One in five British adults and one in six children are deficient in the vitamin, thanks to our modern diets, indoor lifestyle and grey weather.

Researcher Dr Magda Aguiar, in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, said food fortification in Finland has reduced vitamin D deficiency from 13 per cent to 0.6 per cent.

‘While both supplements and fortified foods are important sources of vitamin D for the UK population, evidence suggests current UK supplementation policies are not working,’ she said.

‘We hope that UK policy makers will consider a new national policy to fortify foods such as wheat flour with vitamin D to address this serious health issue.

‘This will lead to significant benefits for the population.’

A Department of Health source said last night there was no plan to fortify flour with vitamin D.