Intake of Vitamin D contributes to bone health, says research
Posted on: 24/Jul/2016 10:58:15 AM
New research by the Science Advisory Committee on Nutrition, or the SACN, has said that tripling intake of Vitamin D in daily diet can help in the maintenance of healthy bones. The SACN has made its recommendations after a five year review. The review showed that one in five people in the UK having insufficient vitamin D levels.
Vitamin D in the human body is made mostly from direct sunlight. But food, including oily fish, salmon, eggs, also supplies small amount of Vitamin D. A Vitamin D deficiency can lead to a number of serious conditions, including rickets in children and Osteomalacia in adults, which cause bones to soften, weaken and in some cases become deformed. Some studies suggest that other diseases, such as diabetes and cancer have also been linked with presence of less amount of Vitamin D in the body.
According to the review, in order to protect bone and muscle health, everyone over one year of age needs 10 micrograms, or 10 ug, Vitamin D daily. If the recommendations are followed, this should reduce the risk of bone disease in the UK population. Until now, it has been assumed that sunlight would provide the Vitamin D needed by most of the population all the year round. We now know this is not true because about one in five people in the UK have a low blood level of Vitamin D.
