Vitamin D - widespread deficiencies and evidence of serious consequences

[Druzhok]

As featured on The Food Programme this afternoon (R4: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t66nr#synopsis )

The UK guidelines are far lower than those in most other northern (i.e. fewer hours of daylight and sun) countries. Apparently, it's a particular problem for women (esp. in pregnancy) and babies/small children, and ethnic minorities with darker skintones. The melatonin in the latter's skin offers protection against UV light that, whilst beneficial in sunnier locations, can lead to a deficiency in a northerly country like the UK.

My Dutch friend has given her children vit D drops since they were tiny: I have asked a GP, HV and pharmacist and told there was no need at all. The UK has apparently been very slow to react to the issue.

The best sources are oily fish, meat and egg yolk. If you have a darker skin tone and/or are vegetarian (or eat low quantities of the above sources), you should consider supplements.

Conditions triggered / exacerbated by Vit D deficiency include multiple sclerosis, muscle wastage, type A diabetes and loss of bone density (I assume that's Ricketts).

Who knew???

Apologies for any errors: working mainly from memory.

try this link

Thank you

Thank you

That is interesting, Druzhok.

When my first child was born in the 80's, Abidec drops were given to the nursing mother straight away (to be added to the water regardless if you were breast feeding or not).

We are fairly far north here and whilst it does not get dark in summer, sometimes it is too cold or wet to go and expose the skin. I wonder if sunscreens block the body's natural defenses and hamper the uptake of Vit D?

I think so, swans ... they mentioned that the advice to stay out of the sun (re skin cancer) was having a further impact upon our ability to generate our own Vit D. So I assume that sunscreen is, in effect, the same thing.

Maybe. I'm not sure if melatonin is the key ... I have no idea, actually

From memory, I think the highest instance of MS in the world per population is in Orkney. It rarely gets light for long in the winter months.

Ah, yes, but another factor in heart disease is taking calcium supplements.

Vit D supplements usually twinned with calcium, apparently ...

When we moved from UK to Austria when DS was 5 months old, the Dr was horrified that we didn't give DS Vit D drops. Absolutely standard there, particularly as we were in a city and majority live in apartments + grey, cold winters = lack of Vit D.

Swans: re Orkney ... that is rather compelling, isn't it? It's one of the northernmost parts of the UK.

Other northern European countries have more regulations regarding Vit D and/or consume more oily fish.

orienteer: my Dutch friend was also openly puzzled. She has to get her drops from Holland; she can't find them over here.

Must confess I rather ignored the advice - we lived there for 5.5 years without Vit D drops.......my defence is that we had a dog and DS was dragged out 3 x per day in all weathers for dog walks & fresh air.

Funny thing is there was a recent article about adults needing Vit D in their 40's/50's (& beyond) and I've put it on my shopping list. Apparently more than half the population of the UK is deficient!

That proportion ties in with what the programme was saying. I was late switching it on, so possibly missed the reference to older people. I first heard the part about Asian teenage girls, 75% of whom are deficient, apparently.

There was definitely a part about needing vit D for bone density. Lack of it can also affect fertility, I think?

I've heard this before and it suprised me how little publicity it gets.

We give ds multi-vit powder, mainly for the vit D and b12 (we're veggie).

Loss of bone density leads to osteoporosis - rickets is the result of a far more acute deficiency. Osteoporosis can ultimately result in extremely painful bone fractures and loss of stature. It is a very serious condition, and not one you would want to be developing already at a young age (old women are bound to have some degree of osteoporosis). And yes, wearing sunscreen does reduce the body's ability to produce its own vitamin D, and the majority of vitamin D in most people is manufactured by their body with the help of the sun rather than being obtained through food. Vitamin D deficiency became a much more common problem in Australia after they started their "slip, slap, slop" campaigns to encourage people to wear sunscreen in a bid to lower the high incidence of skin cancer in Australia.

As people get older, their bodies get less efficient at producing vitamin D (and they are likely to spend less time outdoors), which is why older people are even more likely than the young to be seriously deficient in vitamin D, and to find it quite a struggle to get enough vitamin D through their diet alone. So in other words, it's quite shocking that so much effort has gone into telling people to keep out of the sun and wear sunscreen, without warning at the same time that as a result they really ought to be concerned about the level of vitamin D in their diet. Perhaps (shock, horror), some people would be better off being a bit more selective about where and when they put sunscreen on, although you would never know whether you were getting the balance right, of course, between cancer prevention and vitamin D production opportunities...

This is old news. Some research was done years ago saying that low Vit D levels can be responsible for many cancers and lots of other diseases.

Best way it toget 20 mins sun every day in summer if youc an, and eat lots of oily fish and eggs. Supplement if you need to.

Opps, I should be alright then. I'm very bad at using suncream and walk the dog 2-3 times per day in all weathers for 30-60 mins.

It was an interesting program. what was the daily amount the professor was suggesting? It was tons!

That is good if you receive 20 minutes of sun in summer, purplepeony. This July was one of the darkest, coldest and wettest that I remember.

my health visitor gave me multivitamin drops for DD when she was only a few weeks old, I understood that this was standard practice but I guess not! Maybe because we're in an area with a majority black population? I'm the whitest person in the world and burn at the drop of a hat so I'm quite careful and am with DD - if it's the case that darker skin doesn't absorb vit D so well, is the opposite true? I haven't actually given DD any drops but I suppose I should as she's weaning and she's veggie (though I'm not).

I've just come back from a Max Appeal conference, my daughter has DiGeorge syndrome and one of the doctors who was a speaker said that he saw loads of children and adults in this country with vit d deficients (Ricketts) and as some people with di george already have issues with producing enough calcium, lack of vit d was going to cause more problems.

I check my dd vitamins and the levels were ridiculously low.

Purplepeony - it may be old news to you but it was the first time I had realised how potentially widespread the issue was, hence the thread. I don't think this is common knowledge, you know.

susi: it really might be an idea to supplement. I'm going to get some for my DD. My son eats as many eggs as he can get his hands on, so I think he's ok, but DD is a very picky eater (also breast fed, so more reliant upon my intake). There are no reported ill effects of supplementing (like Ilovemydog was saying, the professor interviewed recommended very high dosages and said he'd been taking 100 times the recommended level for years ... well, something like that), so at the very least, you will be ensuring peace of mind. You might even be preventing a serious condition in later life.

Really interesting thank you for this thread. I knew Vit D deficiency was a problem thanks to increasing use of sunscreens but had no idea it was as common as half the population

I'm also wondering if my seasonal depression could be linked to lack of vitamin D as well as light levels. I've struggled this last month because it's been so gloomy. I don't usually like using supplements (mostly think they're a con) but am wondering whether to relax my rule for vit d supplementation now...