Get your sunshine vitamin

In the UK, most of our vitamin D comes from exposure to the sun during late March to the end of September. However, as the days grow ever shorter this month, it may be time to explore other sources of vitamin D – sunlight during October to early March doesn’t contain enough UVB radiation for our skin to make vitamin D.

Vitamin D is vital for healthy bones, teeth and muscles because of its unique ability to influence the amount of calcium in our bodies. A vitamin D deficiency may lead to more serious health conditions such as rickets in children, metabolic disorders and cardiovascular diseases.

Children over the age of one and adults need 8.5 to 10 micrograms of vitamin D daily. While vitamin D occurs naturally in some foods such as oily fish, red meat, liver and egg yolk, and specially fortified foods, including breakfast cereals and fat spreads, the main source is sunlight. Consequently, in the autumn and winter months everyone should consider taking a vitamin D supplement.

People with dark skin, from African, AfricanCaribbean and South Asian backgrounds, may need to use the supplement year-round, as the pigment in darker skin doesn’t absorb sunlight particularly well.

Children aged one to four years should also have vitamin D supplements all year. They are particularly vulnerable as their bones are still forming so it is especially important that they get the recommended amount.

Vitamin D supplements are widely available from your local or online pharmacy and supermarkets. However, if you are uncertain about whether or not you should be taking a supplement, speak to your GP or online doctor.