Often referred to as ‘the sunshine vitamin’, vitamin D is created when sunlight touches the skin. The positive effects of this vitamin on healthy bones have long been recognised. What’s now becoming apparent is the many other ways it supports good health. Unfortunately, modern lifestyles mean that, for many, levels of this vital nutrient within the body have dramatically dropped and Public Health England now recommend everyone in the UK take vitamin D supplements in the autumn and winter.
Vitamin D is vital for a healthy body, but it’s estimated that 1 in 5 people in the UK are vitamin D deficient. For most of us, we just can’t get the sun exposure needed to produce adequate amounts of vitamin D.
Why do we need Vitamin D?
Adequate levels of vitamin D are necessary for the normal functioning of the immune system.
Our teeth and bones require good levels of vitamin D for optimum mineralisation and vitamin D plays a crucial role in the utilisation of calcium and phosphorus.
Vitamin D is required for normal muscle function and cell division, it is therefore important for every single cell in the body.
Recent studies also now believe that lack of vitamin D may be of detrimental factor of those being worse effected by Covid19 as highlighted in the study below.
Association between vitamin D levels and mortality from COVID-19
– Laird E & Kenny RA. Irish Medical Journal May 2020 Vol 11 No 5
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin, the University of Liverpool and the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) examined the association between vitamin D levels and COVID-19 mortality rates. In this analysis of more than 20 years’ worth of European data on vitamin D, a statistically significant link was shown between the highest infection and death rates of COVID-19 and populations with low vitamin D concentrations, including Spain and Italy. The northern latitude countries of Norway, Finland and Denmark which have recorded comparatively lower Covid-19 infection and death rates, have higher vitamin D levels despite less sunlight exposure, because supplementation and fortification of foods is more common.
Further studies can be found at:
https://www.nutriadvanced.co.uk/news/vitamin-d-and-covid-19-a-round-up-of-the-latest-research/
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0239799
https://www.nhs.uk/news/food-and-diet/the-new-guidelines-on-vitamin-d-what-you-need-to-know/
http://imj.ie/irish-medical-journal-may-2020-vol-113-no-5/
Information gathered from Nutri Advanced UK
We are stockists of both Vitamin D3 and Vitamin D3 with K2, please contact us 01522 538450 or email reception@newlandchiropractic.co.uk for details on our very competitive prices