Are you Vitamin D Aware?

Banishing the Buts around Vitamin D

Vitamin D Awareness Week

 20^th – 26^th October 2014

Vitamin D is a vitamin and pro hormone which is synthesized by the body when our skin is exposed to Ultraviolet light from the sun. It is estimated that 70% of Brits suffer from Vitamin D deficiency during the spring & winter months – a worrying statistic given the vital role this vitamin plays in maintaining our everyday health and well being.

So why are we so deficient? Spending a lot of time indoors during the summer months can contribute to low levels, we only have to give a little thought to how many hours we spend all day in an office, travelling in the car, socialising indoors, using sun cream of factor 15 or above to realise how very little natural sunlight we expose ourselves to. All factors which prevent us naturally producing Vitamin D. Furthermore, as we now head into the winter months, the angle of the sun is simply not strong enough to ensure sufficient vitamin D production at the levels required by the body. In fact when the sun is below 45 degrees in the sky, nearly all of the UVB it produces is absorbed by the atmosphere rather than us!

You may be wondering why Vitamin D is so important? Back in the 1970s this hormone was found to control absorption of Calcium in the intestines and the deposition of calcium in our bones. However, since then medical research has advanced greatly, identifying  Vitamin D as having so many other vital roles within the body and with more compelling evidence suggesting that a lack of vitamin D can be linked to a number of diseases prevalent in today’s Western society including arthritis, some cancers, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis and rickets. Further studies have found moderate evidence of links with other diseases for example asthma, the common cold, depression, Parkinsons Disease & Stroke.

Over the last decade Vitamin D has definitely been thrown into the media spotlight as research has emerged highlighting the extent of the impact of deficiency on health. A number of ‘At risk’ groups have also been identified in the UK as being especially vulnerable to suffering from vitamin D deficiency including those over 50, vegetarians, those who are housebound and those with darker skin. Two particular groups, however, are causing growing concern to nationally significant health officials - pregnant and nursing women and children under 5. Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Dame Sally Davies asked health professionals to recommend Vitamin D supplementation to these at risk groups after cases of rickets began to re emerge and started to make the headlines again.

 These growing concerns have initiated a national campaign across the UK to raise awareness of the importance of Vitamin D for health and this year the campaign focuses on children – an important ‘at risk’ group, following reports than more than half (60%) of UK parents are unconcerned about the risk of insufficient vitamin D levels in their child. This third campaign is led by pioneers Better You who are urging parents ahead of National Vitamin D awareness week to ‘banish the buts’ when it comes to protecting their children from the effects of deficiency.

Leading doctors, businesses and health professionals are backing this years campaign, which again seeks to challenge how much people think they know about the vital sunshine vitamin.

These new findings have worried experts, who fear that the UK’s under 5s maybe missing out on the essential vitamin, due to a lack of awareness of its benefits and the potential health risks associated with vitamin D deficiency.

So, Better You are driving the campaign forward with two strong new messages that dispel common myths about vitamin D for children's health.

“But I give my kids plenty of calcium”

Banish the buts.... Vitamin D is essential for absorbing calcium to build strong teeth and bones. It also helps prevent bone disease like rickets, which are on the rise.

“But my kids are too young for supplements”

Banish the buts....the Department of Health recommends vitamin D supplementation from 6 months old, due to the lack of essential vitamin D in the diet.

National Vitamin D Awareness week, which runs from 20^th – 26^th October, is also supported by the Vitamin D Mission, a pioneering public awareness initiative which aims to eradicate vitamin D deficiency in the under 5s. Research by the Generation D report, commissioned by the vitamin D Mission, revealed the average British toddler is only getting 27% of the daily dietary vitamin D they need. A lack of education about the risks associated with vitamin D deficiency means 20% of parents remain unaware that under 5s rank among the most at risk of low levels of vitamin D.

Andrew Thomas, founder and managing director of BetterYou states “A cause for concern is that despite its crucial role in ensuring the healthy growth and development of children’s bones and teeth, more than three quarters of parents (77%) are unaware of their childs daily dietary requirement of vitamin D, with more than a third stating that they have never received information about their child’s specific needs.”

He goes on to say “we hope that this years campaign helps to banish the misconceptions about Vitamin D while providing enough information for everyone, particularly parents, to make informed choices regarding their child’s vitamin D requirements.”

If you are concerned about your Vitamin D intake or that of your child, you can pop into your local health store. The easiest way to top up your levels during the dark, cold winter months is through supplementation. It is only possible to get 10% of what you need from diet alone which would equate to drinking 80 glasses of milk a day! Vitamin D is available in capsule form, drops or by sublingual application where you spray it into the mouth where absorption is believed to be better.

COMPETITION TIME!

You could be the lucky winner of a BetterYou DLux 3000 and a DLuxJunior by simply answering the question below:

                                   

'The Department of health recommends Vitamin D supplementation from what age?'

Please email all answers to info@barehealth.co.uk by November 30th 2014

For more information – please call Bare Health, Congleton on 01260 408413

The information contained within this article is for information purposes only. If you are taking any prescribed medication or undergoing any form of medical treatment always seek the advice of your GP or healthcare professional before embarking on any supplementation programme.