[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]When it’s not so bright living under a northern light
Vitamin D. Often referred to as the sunshine vitamin because exposure to sunshine helps the body to manufacture it.
Bad news for those of us living in the northern hemisphere then. No-one can rely on Britain’s summer months to do what they’re meant to do and be summery!
Which may in aprt explain why government advice on sun exposure and vitamin D supplementation has recently changed. But has it changed enough? It’s a good question and one we’ll return to later.

Does the lack of northern light matter?
Well aside from it being kinda nice to get some use from the BBQ before it rusts away in the corner of the patio – yes. It does.
The main purpose of vitamin D is to regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body. Both these substances are vital for the growth and maintenance of healthy teeth, bones and muscles.
Low vitamin D levels can lead to brittle bones and rickets in children. And in adults a deficiency of vitamin D can result in a thing called osteomalacia – causing severe bone pain and muscle aches.
So it’s not just sticks and stones that break our bones but a lack of sunshine too. While two weeks baking on a Spanish beach is a quick boost it’s no long-term solution. Vitamin D intake needs to be sustained throughout the year.

It’s complicated
The bottom line of the latest government advice is that there’s 2 main ways to get vitamin D:
1) By exposing your bare skin to sunlight in short bursts but WITHOUT SUNSCREEN
2) Taking vitamin D supplements – because you can’t get enough vitamin D from food.
But that’s in the simplest of terms.

Expose yourself!
The amount of vitamin D the body might produce depends on:
• The time of day
• The time of year
• Where in the world you live
• Skin colour – fair people need less exposure than dark skinned people. At last – a reason to be thankful for freckles!
It’s not one bit straightforward. You can read more about in the ins and outs of location, skin colour and required sun exposure in this article from the Vitamin D Council.

Now back to the new guidelines:
The previous wisdom that we got all the vitamin D we needed from sunshine alone has been rethought.
Given Britain’s scant supply of sunshine one wonders it’s taken so long.
In the UK the body won’t produce vitamin D from October to April – even IF a person is outside. Due to the angle between the sun and the UK most of the UVB vitamin-D- creating rays are not reaching us. And then there’s the clouds to contend with. Isn’t there always?
Hence the new recommendation of supplementation for all.
But that’s not all. What’s also changed is the advice on the area of skin we need to expose.
Based on evidence gathered over the last 5 years the suggestion now is that exposure of the arms and face only is insufficient. This is because the body makes the most vitamin D when large areas of skin, the back for example, are exposed to the sun.

Supplementation for all
Vitamin D supplements have always been advised for certain groups:
• Dark skinned people
• Pregnant and breastfeeding women
• The over 65s
• Children up to the age of 4 and babies under 1 year if they’re not already getting it in infant formula.
Now though vitamin D supplementation is recommended for everyone.

How much is enough?
Having established that supplementation is vital for everyone how much should we take? And for how long?
Let’s take the time period aspect first. The long-standing advice for babies and young children is daily and all-year round. But what about the rest of us?
21st century lifestyles are not so conducive to getting as much fresh air and sunshine as they might be. That’s without considering our climate and whether or not you even want to expose yourself to the sun anyway.
But even if you are sun-worshipper with the great British weather being what is making a vitamin D supplement part of your daily routine is surely a no-brainer? Rickets aren’t just for Christmas!
So the question remaining is how much supplementation represents an adequate daily dollop of sunshine?
The Vitamin D Council recommends 5000iu a day for adults all year round and the Endocrine Society recommends 1500-2000iu a day. Both of which are significantly higher dosages than the 400iu in the winter months recommended by the Public Health Agency.

Luckily for you H4A is your sunshine saviour. Our vitamin D supplements come in 3 doses: 1000, 5000 and 10000iu. So any one of those will supply you with all the vitamin D you need.
They’re almost as good as wintering in the Caribbean! We did say almost...[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]

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