As a healthy middle aged adult, after having a blood test a few years ago, I was slightly shocked to find my Vit.D levels were very low. Since being prescribed high dose supplements by the doc, the recorded levels in my blood were back up to well within normal, but I now wonder how much that actually benefits me, after reading an article in today's Times (paywall so only subscribers can read it), but I'll paste first few paragrahs. The article states Vit. D supplements have no effect on preventing Cancer, or bone disease, heart disease, etc, in a word, they are useless, it recommends large doses of daily sunshine. But, as someone who is outdoors for about 6 hours a day, I wonder why my own levels were so low.
Why real sunlight is better than the ‘sunshine vitamin’ | Times2 | The Times
"
For years we’ve been told of the wonders of vitamin D — the “sunshine vitamin” and how we need it so much that officials recommend we take it daily in pills. As a result, it has become Britain’s top-selling supplement, claiming a third of sales in a UK market worth more than £440 million each year, say the analysts Mintel.
Last week, however, a huge scientific study called Vital declared that it brings limited benefit, if that. The five-year study of some 26,000 midlife men and women who took the supplement daily reported in The New England Journal of Medicine that the pills do not prevent bone fractures, even among people who had low levels of the vitamin or the bone-thinning condition osteoporosis.
This is a surprise, since our bodies need the vitamin for our guts to absorb the calcium that bones need to grow and stay healthy. Furthermore, the US government-funded study has also found that the supplements don’t bring the benefits that getting the vitamin naturally from sunshine or foods such as oily fish, eggs and red meat are thought to provide: the pills don’t prevent cancer or heart disease, improve brain function or protect our joints and eyes.
This is particularly concerning given that the Department of Health estimates that one in six people in the UK has vitamin D levels below government recommendations, while new statistics from NHS Digital this week suggest that the number of people being admitted to hospital and rated as deficient in vitamin D have risen by more than 50 per cent since before the pandemic – thanks not least to lockdowns and WFH.
To remedy such low levels, the Department of Health recommends that all adults and children should consider taking a daily 10 microgram supplement between October and March — but the new Vital study isn’t the only research to cast doubt on such advice.
This is particularly concerning given that the Department of Health estimates that one in six people in the UK has vitamin D levels below government recommendations, while new statistics from NHS Digital this week suggest that the number of people being admitted to hospital and rated as deficient in vitamin D have risen by more than 50 per cent since before the pandemic – thanks not least to lockdowns and WFH.
To remedy such low levels, the Department of Health recommends that all adults and children should consider taking a daily 10 microgram supplement between October and March — but the new Vital study isn’t the only research to cast doubt on such advice.
Why real sunlight is better than the ‘sunshine vitamin’ | Times2 | The Times
"
For years we’ve been told of the wonders of vitamin D — the “sunshine vitamin” and how we need it so much that officials recommend we take it daily in pills. As a result, it has become Britain’s top-selling supplement, claiming a third of sales in a UK market worth more than £440 million each year, say the analysts Mintel.
Last week, however, a huge scientific study called Vital declared that it brings limited benefit, if that. The five-year study of some 26,000 midlife men and women who took the supplement daily reported in The New England Journal of Medicine that the pills do not prevent bone fractures, even among people who had low levels of the vitamin or the bone-thinning condition osteoporosis.
This is a surprise, since our bodies need the vitamin for our guts to absorb the calcium that bones need to grow and stay healthy. Furthermore, the US government-funded study has also found that the supplements don’t bring the benefits that getting the vitamin naturally from sunshine or foods such as oily fish, eggs and red meat are thought to provide: the pills don’t prevent cancer or heart disease, improve brain function or protect our joints and eyes.
This is particularly concerning given that the Department of Health estimates that one in six people in the UK has vitamin D levels below government recommendations, while new statistics from NHS Digital this week suggest that the number of people being admitted to hospital and rated as deficient in vitamin D have risen by more than 50 per cent since before the pandemic – thanks not least to lockdowns and WFH.
To remedy such low levels, the Department of Health recommends that all adults and children should consider taking a daily 10 microgram supplement between October and March — but the new Vital study isn’t the only research to cast doubt on such advice.
This is particularly concerning given that the Department of Health estimates that one in six people in the UK has vitamin D levels below government recommendations, while new statistics from NHS Digital this week suggest that the number of people being admitted to hospital and rated as deficient in vitamin D have risen by more than 50 per cent since before the pandemic – thanks not least to lockdowns and WFH.
To remedy such low levels, the Department of Health recommends that all adults and children should consider taking a daily 10 microgram supplement between October and March — but the new Vital study isn’t the only research to cast doubt on such advice.