Ankh Rah's Healthy Living Guide: NEW RESEARCH: Daily Vitamin D Prevents Colds!

Friday 17 February 2017

NEW RESEARCH: Daily Vitamin D Prevents Colds!

New research from an NHS-backed study published in the British Medical Journal has found that taking a daily Vitamin D supplements would be able to prevent more than 3 million people catching a cold every year.[1]

For some people, the study showed that taking a Vitamin D supplement could cut their risk of catching a cold by 50%.

Adrienne Benjamin, nutritionist at Vega Vitamins, explains:

“Today’s study suggests that public health measures, such as food fortification, should be introduced to help to improve vitamin D status in the population.

“Vitamin D is found naturally in animal foods such as eggs, oily fish and unpasteurized milk, although it is unlikely that food alone can provide the 10 micrograms (mg) per day, due to the amount of food that would need to be consumed.

“Fortified foods may help to increase the availability of vitamin D via food, but the amounts are likely to be small – 2 slices of M&S vitamin D bread contain 0.75mg of vitamin D, so we would need to eat 27 slices a day to reach our daily 10mg recommended amount.[1]

“Furthermore, there are two types of vitamin D (D2 and D3). Vitamin D3 has been shown to be more effective than D2 in raising the levels of vitamin D in the body, so any food fortification should use vitamin D3.”

A study by Vega Vitamins found that overwhelmingly 80% of Brits don’t take any form of vitamin D supplements, with 28% believing that there is no need to take vitamin D, or any supplements for that matter. 90% of British parents have said that they don’t give their children a standalone vitamin D supplement, with the overwhelming reason being that they have ‘never given it any thought’.[2]

Two new ways to supplement Vitamin D:

The Urgent D Chewable (£5.95, vegavitamins.co.uk) have been shown in published clinical studies to completely resolve deficiency in Vitamin D in 3 months.[3]