Healthy lifestyle and diet ‘is all most of us need’

November 24, 2016

The Government advises all Britons to consider taking the pills in winter
University of Aberdeen experts said we can get enough vitamin D naturally
Scientists said people should just eat healthily and get regular sunshine

Ben Spencer Medical Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published:
19:35 EST, 23 November 2016

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Updated:
19:38 EST, 23 November 2016

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People should get out into the sunshine rather than rely on supplements to get enough vitamin D, experts say.

The Government advises all Britons to consider taking the pills in winter to avoid bone and muscle disease.

But University of Aberdeen experts said we should instead focus on eating healthily and getting regular sunshine.

Aberdeen clinical researcher Professor Alison Avenell, with scientists at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, reviewed existing data on vitamin D supplements.

People should get out into the sunshine rather than rely on supplements to get enough vitamin D, experts say

They said high-risk patients, including the housebound or those with certain medical conditions, should be offered low-dose supplements, but the healthy can get enough vitamin D naturally.

Taking the supplements does not lessen the risk of broken bones, they said.

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And there was no quality evidence that vitamin D is beneficial for conditions such as heart disease, stroke and some cancers.

Vitamin D is found in oily fish, red meat, liver and eggs

‘Current evidence does not support the use of vitamin D supplementation to prevent disease,’ they wrote in the British Medical Journal.

Vitamin D is produced naturally by the skin when it is exposed to the sun, and is found in oily fish, red meat, liver and eggs. But one in five Britons are vitamin D deficient.

Since 2012 the NHS has advised pregnant women to consider taking 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day. Last July Government nutritionists said everyone should consider taking the same dose in autumn and winter to avoid bone diseases such as rickets.

But Professor Tim Spector, of King’s College London, said: ‘Highly convincing evidence of a clear role of vitamin D does not exist for any outcome.’

He accepted that high-risk groups should take the pills, but added that ‘the rest of us should focus on having a healthy lifestyle, sunshine and a diversity of real food’.