The cheap supplement should be swallowed every day, especially when the weather gets worse – and it can have a massive health impact
Everyone should be popping a 2p pill daily for key health benefits, including proven effects such as warding off dementia. As the summer sun begins to fade, the NHS recommends that people start taking vitamin D supplements.
And it’s not just the elderly who should be swallowing these pills – kids as young as eight can also reap the rewards, with claims that it boosts bone strength and cuts dementia risks. These budget-friendly vitamin D tablets are championed by medics, particularly during those months when there’s less sunshine to soak up naturally.
Vitamin D supplements won’t break the bank – you can bag 400 pills for under £8 online, which works out at less than 2p a day – and researchers have given them the thumbs up. Vitamin D has been linked to a lower risk of dementia, and the NHS also gives these supplements their seal of approval.
A French study discovered that individuals with vitamin D levels below 50 nmol/L were almost three times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
The Government suggests that everyone should think about taking a daily vitamin D supplement during the autumn and winter. Those at high risk of vitamin D deficiency, all children aged 1 to 4, and all babies (unless they’re guzzling more than 500ml of infant formula per day) should consider a daily supplement throughout the year.
Expert Dr Michael Mosley, who passed away earlier this year, was a firm believer in the power of vitamin D supplements. He once recommended: “I take 25 mcg (1,000 IU), which is within the limits of what’s considered safe (anything under 100 mcg a day for adults or 50 mcg for children, according to the NHS) but closer to the sort of doses studies show you need to take to ward off infections, cancers, and maybe even dementia.”
Dr Jenny Goodman, a member of the British Society of Ecological Medicine, also champions the cause of vitamin D. She has been quoted saying: “I go outdoors with my legs and upper arms exposed in summer, which, I’ve found, gives me enough vitamin D to last until December (it is fat soluble so can be stored).”
Furthermore, Dr Goodman has shared details about her personal routine for supplementing vitamin D, taking 2,000 international units (IU, equivalent to 50 micrograms) each evening from October to April, not only for stronger bones but to enhance “brain health, reducing the risk of dementia [as shown by an Exeter University study] and supporting the immune system”.
The government might suggest that people should consider taking 400 international units (equivalent to 10mcg) of vitamin D throughout the autumn and winter, but for some, including Dr Amina Hersi, a higher dosage is essential. Dr Hersi sheds light on her own increased intake during the darker months, explaining: “Like 85% of people with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), I am deficient in vitamin D. I also have darker skin so I need more because melanin blocks out the sun’s UV rays.”
Dr Lavan Baskaran, an authority on ADHD, asserts that everyone aged eight and up should imitate his approach to combat feeling down. “Unless I’m on a summer holiday, I take 1,000 IU daily. If I forget, I’ll feel low, anxious and tired with achy joints.”
A groundbreaking study suggests eating vitamin D-rich foods could enhance immunity against cancer. Caetano Reis e Sousa, who heads the Immunobiology Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute and is the senior author of the research, was taken aback: “What we’ve shown here came as a surprise vitamin D can regulate the gut microbiome to favour a type of bacteria which gives mice better immunity to cancer.”
He warned, though, that it’s still early days in understanding how this works, adding: “This could one day be important for cancer treatment in humans, but we don’t know how and why vitamin D has this effect via the microbiome. More work is needed before we can conclusively say that correcting a vitamin D deficiency has benefits for cancer prevention or treatment.”