The daily recommended dose of vitamin D as new study finds it helps protect against the flu
Around one in six adults and 20% of children in the UK have low levels of vitamin D ☀
- Vitamin D can help protect you from the flu, a new study suggests.
- Around one in six adults in the UK has low levels of vitamin D.
- The government recommends an intake of 10 micrograms of vitamin D per day.
Vitamin D could protect you from the flu, a new study suggests.
Known for its importance in bone and muscle health, the new research, carried out by the University of Surrey, in collaboration with the University of Reading and the University of Oxford, found a connection between vitamin D deficiency and the risk of hospitalisation with a respiratory infection.
Researchers found that those with severe vitamin D deficiency (below 15 nmol/L) had a 33 per cent higher chance of hospitalisation for a respiratory infection, compared to those with vitamin D levels of 75 nmol/L or greater.
Abi Bournot, BBSRC Food Biosystems PhD Research Fellow and Lead Author at the University of Surrey, said: “Vitamin D is vital to our physical wellbeing. Not only does it keep our bones and muscles healthy, but its antibacterial and antiviral properties are also thought to help reduce the risk of respiratory tract infections that can lead to hospitalisation. This research attaches hard data to support the theory.”
What is vitamin D?
Vitamin D is a vital nutrient that helps keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy by regulating the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body.
The body makes vitamin D from direct sunlight on the skin when outside. From late March or early April to the end of September, most people should be able to make all the vitamin D they need from sunlight.
But during the colder and darker months between October and early March, there is not enough sunlight for our bodies to make the levels of vitamin D we need.
How much vitamin D should we have every day?
The government-recommended intake is 10 micrograms of vitamin D every day. However, around one in six adults and 20% of children in the UK have lower levels of vitamin D and do not meet this target.
How to get more vitamin D?
Vitamin D levels can be increased by the foods in our diet, such as oily fish, red meat, egg yolks or fortified foods.
However, since it’s difficult to get the vitamin D we need through food during winter, the NHS recommends that everyone should consider taking 10 micrograms of vitamin D during the autumn and winter.
Abi Bournot said: “Supplementation of the vitamin, especially in the winter months when our exposure to sunlight is limited, is an effective way of increasing vitamin D and reducing the risk of serious respiratory tract infections.
“This is particularly important for older people who are at higher risk of death from such infections, and ethnic minority communities in the UK, who are at a higher risk of vitamin D deficiency.”
Cases of seasonal illnesses such as the flu, RSV and norovirus are still circulating. You can find out more about the importance of vitamin D at NHS.UK.