Vitamin D deficiency – and COVID

Britain has the highest levels of Vitamin D deficiency in Europe (although figures for some countries – chiefly Spain – are not available).

56% of the population has less than 20ng / ml and 15% have less than 10. In Northern Ireland the figures rise to 66% and 17%.

Perhaps surprisingly Denmark, Sweden and Norway have the lowest levels of vitamin D deficiency. However there is a high level of awareness about vitamin D in the Skandanavian countries, where vitamin D is added to many foods, and a diet that is rich in oily fish.

High levels of vitamin D deficiency have also been recorded in hot countries where clothing covers most of the body, such as the Middle East and India.

We receive most of our vitamin D from sunlight, as well as from some foods, especially oily fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel and herring), as well as red meat, liver and egg yolks. However it is difficult to get enough vitamin D from diet alone.

According to the NHS, vitamin D is essential in maintaining healthy bones, teeth and muscles. It is also believed to help combat a range of other conditions.

People who are likely to become vitamin D deficient include those who don’t get out into the sun enough and the obese, who need more vitamin D than others. Dark skinned people, especially from black and minority ethnic backgrounds are also vulnerable because the melanin pigment in darker skin means that more sunlight is needed to make vitamin D.

BAME people cannot produce enough vitamin D from sunlight even in summer if they live above the 37th parallel – that is a line passing through parts of Tunisia, Algeria, Sicily, the Greek Islands, Turkey, Syria and Iraq. London is on the 51st parallel.

The NHS say that it is worth boosting vitamin D intake for people who have been indoors more than usual during COVID lockdowns. Their website also says that “everyone should consider taking a daily supplement containing 10mgs … during the autumn and winter”.

The NHS says that there is ‘not enough evidence’ that vitamin D can help to counter COVID19.

However research for Cytoplan cites strong circumstantial evidence of a link.  It argues that the higher than average death rate from COVID among the BAME population cannot be solely explained by higher levels of deprivation, pointing out that BAME people represent 44% of doctors in the UK, but 94% of COVID deaths. They also point out that while the Somali population in Sweden is less than 1% of the population, they have accounted for 19% of COVID related deaths.

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This article was compiled from a number of sources, but chiefly the Cytoplan blog and the NHS website

Product and advertisers news

Cytoplan have now launched a buy two get one free sale, so now might be a good time to stock up.

The Works has an “everything must go” (well most things anyway) sale to make way for new stock. We visited our local store just before it was put into tier four, and it looked to us as if most things had already gone. There;s still availability online though.