Here’s what you need to know about Vitamin D and coronavirus - including how avoid deficiency during lockdown
Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body, and these nutrients are needed to keep muscle, teeth and bones healthy.
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Hide AdBut can it help with symptoms of Covid-19 and how can we avoid a vitamin D deficiency during the UK lockdown?
Here’s what you need to know.
Why is vitamin D important for our health?
Vitamin D is important for our health because it helps to regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body, which are nutrients needed to keep muscle, teeth and bones healthy.
A lack of vitamin D can lead to bone deformities such as rickets in children, and bone pain caused by a condition called osteomalacia in adults.
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Hide AdWhere do we get vitamin D from?
From around late March to the end of September, most people should be able to get all the vitamin D they need from sunlight.
The body creates vitamin D from direct sunlight on the skin when outdoors.
However, between October and early March we don't get enough vitamin D from sunlight.
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Hide Advitamin D is also found in a small number of foods, including:
-oily fish – such as salmon, sardines, herring and mackerel-red meat-liver-egg yolks-fortified foods – such as most fat spreads and some breakfast cereals
Can vitamin D help with the symptoms of Covid-19?
Although vitamin D does not prevent you from getting coronavirus, Dr Chris spoke about the importance of vitamin D amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic on This Morning.
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Hide AdHe encouraged the public to consider taking a vitamin D supplement in order to help their body fight coronavirus, explaining that the vitamin could help your immune system tackle Covid-19 symptoms.
Dr Chris also recommended looking for supplements that had 'vitamin D3' on the label.
Dr Chris suggested taking a vitamin D supplement, as it can be difficult to get the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of the vitamin while staying inside during the lockdown.
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Hide AdHe told presenters Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, “Vitamin D is made in your skin and in the action of sunshine.
"We are all low on vitamin D, and we should be taking vitamin D.”
Dr Chris read out a research paper that states: "Vitamin D deficiency is common - we recommend that those at risk of coronavirus urgently supplement with Vitamin D to enhance their resistance to Covid-19, and this advice is to be extended to the general adult public."
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Hide AdHow much vitamin D do I need?
According to the NHS, babies up to the age of one year need 8.5 to 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day.
Children from the age of one year and adults need 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day, which includes pregnant and breastfeeding women, and people at risk of vitamin D deficiency.
The NHS notes that you should consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D.
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Hide AdHow to avoid vitamin D deficiency during lockdown
As the UK lockdown continues and we are not able to leave our house as often as usual, it is more difficult to get vitamin D from natural sunlight.
The NHS website explains that there may already be people at risk of vitamin D deficiency, noting, “Some people won't get enough vitamin D from sunlight because they have very little or no sunshine exposure.”
The Department of Health recommends that you take a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the year if you:
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Hide Ad-aren't often outdoors – for example, if you're frail or housebound-are in an institution like a care home-usually wear clothes that cover up most of your skin when outdoors
If you have dark skin – for example you have an African, African-Caribbean or south Asian background – you may not get enough vitamin D from sunlight, so you should also consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the year.