See the light

Written by Gemma Rowland

With many people short of it in the darker months, let’s swallow some facts about the super vitamin that is Vitamin D. Research has found its virtues are amazing:

• It helps to regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body, both of which are needed to help keep bones and teeth healthy.

• It’s also been found to be better than Vitamin C at reducing colds and flu.

• Recently it’s been shown to greatly reduce the risk of heart disease, as it lowers insulin resistance and regulates blood pressure.

• A daily dose of Vitamin D could halve the risk of two of the biggest cancer killers, breast and bowel cancer.

No wonder it’s often called a wonder vitamin! Most healthy individuals get all the vitamins and minerals they need from a balanced diet, but Vitamin D is a little more complicated. The vitamin is made by the action of sunlight on the skin, which in most people accounts for 90 per cent of the body's supply.

Scientists say that the winter sun is barely strong enough to make the vitamin, and by spring 60 per cent of the population is deficient in vitamin D.

By spring 60 per cent of the population is deficient in vitamin D

So without all moving to the Mediterranean what can we do? Diet is a key player, with Vitamin D found across a range of foods. Fish, liver and egg yolk are in fact the only foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.

However, there are a number of other foods which are fortified with the jolly vitamin, such as milk, yoghurt, margarine, cooking oil, breakfast cereals, pastries and bread. A quick look on the back of such food packets is your best bet.

Or you could take Vitamin D as a vitamin supplement. There actually isn’t a recommended dose in the UK, but in the US they recommend 400 international units a day, although some scientists say that up to 1000 units may be necessary to prevent certain diseases. Regular intake is the key, but it doesn’t have to be every day. It is a fat soluble vitamin, which means the body cleverly stores up for future use any of the vitamin you don’t use immediately. Amazingly it can be stored for up to 60 days.

It would seem that sunshine is a great friend to have. Up to one in twenty people are believed to be affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. Women are three times more likely to be affected than men, and the rate is highest amongst those of both sexes between the ages of 18 and 40. What's more January and February are said to be the saddest months!

Treatment for SAD is light therapy, with a light needed that’s at least 10 times the intensity of ordinary domestic lighting. You can now get a light box for less than £100, so recreating the light in your own home is cheaper and, it’s been found, more effective than a spot of jet setting. If winter gets you down it might be worth checking out if you're a sufferer at the SAD association website.

For the rest of us though, the best way would seem to be a little bit of diet adjustment, the occasional tablet and making the most of the little sunshine that reaches us here in York.

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