Calculate vital Vitamin D intake you need each day
New research has found that vitamin D could in fact help to reduce a person’s risk of COVID-19. While the subject still needs more research, a Vitamin D calculator has been devised to allow people to see how much of the vitamin they need to give them protection, and how much they might actually be getting in their daily lives.
The Vitamin D Calculator is an online tool that roughly calculates how much vitamin D is needed each day, taking into consideration a person’s weight, the time spent in direct sunlight, and skin exposed to direct sunlight.
It shows how many different vitamin-D-rich-foods are needed to equal the personal intake recommendation.
Vitamin D is very difficult to get from food alone, which is highlighted by the calculator.
Ongoing research has shown that deficiency in the vitamin may be a contributing factor to a number of respiratory infections such as COVID.
The online tool was created to estimate roughly how much vitamin D an individual needs and which vitaminD-rich-foods should be included in their diet.
It is more challenging to get Vitamin D during the winter months due to the lack of sunlight and people being naturally less inclined to spend time outdoors due to colder and wetter weather.
The online tool was created by the team behind one of the UK’s largest online nutrition companies, www. Vitl.com.
They wanted to increase awareness of vitamin D deficiency and help individuals to work out how much they need to stay healthy.
In the UK alone, it is estimated that one in five adults are vitamin D deficient during the winter months.
The calculations are based on:
· Weight
· Time spent in direct sunlight
· Exposure of sun on skin
During the winter months – where sunlight is scarce in the UK – most people will
receive very little (if any) sunlight on their skin.
The calculator reveals an estimate on how much IU (International Unit) of vitamin D an individual needs each day and what this equates to in relation to food.
The tool is also used to highlight just how hard it is to get sufficient levels of vitamin D from food alone, which makes supplementing, especially during the winter months, crucial for many.
For example, a 10 stone individual, who spends less than 15 minutes in strong direct sunlight on their hands only, needs approximately 3780 IU (94.5 ug) of vitamin D a day.
This equates to:
· 85 hard-boiled eggs
· 47 servings of pork
· 39 cups of almond milk · 37 cups of orange juice · 16 servings of canned tuna
The tool can be found at: https://vitl.com/vitamin-dcalc/ site.
Elizabeth Stewart, registered associate nutritionist for www.vitl.com said: “Maintaining a balanced diet is crucial for meeting your daily requirements of each of the essential nutrients.
“What this tool shows, however, is that for some of those nutrients (in this case vitamin D) it is extremely difficult to obtain sufficient levels from food alone.
“Vitamin D is essential for many functions in the body, including the maintenance of healthy bones, teeth, muscles and the immune system.
“The current government guidelines state that supplementing 10ug per day throughout the winter months (October - March) is recommended with less exposure to direct sunlight - our main source of the vitamin.”