2019-06-01+Woman+and+Home

WORDS

Lucy GornaLL

PhOtOgRaPh

Getty imaGes

365 days

thought you onlyneeded to pop a vitamin D

pill for six months of the year? think again...

D

on’tjustwaitforthe

gloomy,darkmonthsto

jumponthevitaminD

supplementbandwagon,

it’stimetostarttakingit all

year– throughrain,shine,heatwaves

• the lot. Dr Sarah Jarvis explains...

Post-menopause

ifyou’repost-menopausal,thenvitamin

D is evenmorevaluable.“afterthe

menopause,yourriskofosteoporosis

risessignificantly,”saysDrJarvis.

“Gettingenoughcalciumandvitamin

D arekeytoreducingyourriskof

osteoporosis,whichresultsin atleast

onein threewomenover 50 fracturing

a boneatsomepointduringherlife.

osteoporosiscanalsoleadtosevere

ongoingpainanddisability.”

Are you deficient?

Depression,muscleandjointpains,

breastandcolorectalcancer

haveallbeenlinkedtolowlevels

ofvitaminD.“Peoplewith

lowlevelsmayalsobeat

increasedriskofdementia

andalzheimer’sdisease.

Plus,vitaminD deficiencycan

bedetrimentaltothosewho

haveasthma.”takingvitaminD

canactuallyhalvetherisk of

anasthmaticflare-up.

Try...

FultiumDailyD3,£3.99

for30,frompharmacies

nationwide. w&h

sunexposuretoburnoreventan– too

muchsunexposureincreasesyourriskof

skincancer.However,DrJarvisexplains

thatwhileit’simportanttousesunscreen,

“suncreamscanblockthesun’sraysthat

enableourskintoproducevitaminD.”

it’sa catch-22fora lotofus:headout

in peaksunbutriskskindamage,orstay

indoorsandriskvitaminD deficiency.

this is why supplementing is key.

The at-riskers

anyoneover65,anyonewhois entirely

orlargelyhousebound,andanyone

whocoversupforreligious

reasonsshouldabsolutelybe

takingsupplementsallyear,

saysDrJarvis,asshould

pregnantandbreastfeeding

women.officeworkerswho

sitindoorsfortheentirety

of theirdayalsoneed

to supplement.

VitaminD is essentialforbone,teeth

andmusclehealth,aswellasaspects

ofmentalhealth,soit’svitalwegetour

recommendeddailyallowance(rDa)

• currentlysetat 10 micrograms(μg),
  accordingtoPublicHealthengland.But
  howwegetthatis a trickybalancingact
  ofnutrition,supplements– andsunshine.
  “about90-95%of thevitaminD weget
  naturallycomesnotfromourdiet– unlike
  mostothervitamins– butfromwhatwe
  makein ourskinthroughsunexposure,”
  explainsDrJarvis.thisis becausethere
  simplyisn’tenoughofthisnutrientin
  foods(seebox).Withoutsupplements,
  werelyonthesunfortherest– but in
  theuK,thiscanbea challenge.
  “Fromoctobertoapril,theuKsunis
  tooweakforustomakeanyvitaminD.
  therestoftheyear,it’sonlystrong
  enoughbetween11amand3pm”,she
  adds.Duringthesetimes,15-20minutes
  ofsunexposurewitharmsandface
  uncoveredprovidesenoughvitamin
  D, but you shouldn’t have enough

of Vitamin D

hardtostomach

It’salmostimpossibletohityourrda

ofvitd withfood;you’dhavetoplough

yourwaythroughoneof these...

✢6-10boiledeggs

✢10+cansoftuna

✢7+bowlsofcereal fortified

invitamind

✢ 10 rumpsteaks

✢10+lambsliver

✢13+lumpsofreduced-fatspread

✢ 1 portionofoilyfish(however,

theNhssayscertaingroups

should only eat 2 portions a week)

Improve

bloodpressure

astudybyUniversitycollege

Londonhasfounda link

betweenvitamind deficiency

andhypertension,aKahigh

bloodpressure.sokeep

thosevitd levels

topped up!

health update