It’s a well known and confirmed fact that Vitamin D is essential for our general health. A lack of vitamin D can lead to a number of problems in both adults and children. What is vitamin D and how do we ensure that we get enough? It’s safe to say that this vitamin is one that many people do need to take supplements for, and this is due to certain reasons. Let’s have a look at how vitamin D enters our body.

Sunlight and Vitamin D

Being outdoors in sunlight is our primary source of vitamin D. It is created by sunlight on the skin. In the UK, this can be a problem, as the weather is not always in our favour! Between March and September – through spring and summer – it is likely that each of us gets enough sunlight to create sufficient vitamin D. That is for people who spend an average amount of time outdoors in these months.

However, for persons who do not spend enough time outdoors, vitamin D deficiency can be a real problem. Vitamin D is essential for keeping our bones healthy and deficiency can cause problems with bone development in children and problems with the strength of bones in adults.

It’s worth mentioning that as many of us have been spending extraordinary amounts of time indoors in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, taking vitamin D supplements may be a good idea right now. A good choice is to begin with a Vitamin D3 supplement to add to your intake.

Food that Provides Vitamin D

While vitamin D is mainly provided by sunlight it can be found in small amounts of some foods. However, there are not many which is why more people take to using the likes of a Vitamin D Spray to add to their intake. Foods that do include vitamin D are as follows:

• Salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel and any other oily fish
• Liver
• Red meat
• Egg yolks
• Some fortified foods such as breakfast cereals and spreads

However, it is essential that we add that there is not enough vitamin D in the above foods to be a good supplement for lack of sunlight, and children especially will suffer if they do not have sufficient. There are some very good Children supplement products that make up for this problem that you should consider, especially now when we are entering the winter after a summer that was not greatly beneficial.

Supplements for Vitamin D

Unlike some essential vitamins that mainly come from what we eat, we’ve shown above that there is a real need for supplements for sufficient vitamin D intake. This is especially so in the winter months when sunlight in the UK is scarce. We recommend you check out the many different food and drink vitamin D supplements available, and do all you can to ensure your family has sufficient vitamin D intake for the winter and beyond.