Fortifying food with vitamin D would spare 10million people from risk of health problems caused by deficiency in the nutrient, researchers have calculated. Experts at Birmingham University said mandatory fortification of vitamin D in wheat flour would significantly reduce the burden on the NHS. The researchers, writing in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, calculated the policy would cut vitamin D deficiency rates by a quarter.
Over the next 90 years this would cut the number of people suffering from vitamin D deficiency by 10million - slashing cases of rickets, muscle weakness and even heart failure. Since 2016 Public Health England has advised people to take a 10micrograms vitamin D supplement in the winter months. But experts say it is unrealistic to expect people to follow the advice. Instead, they call for vitamin D to be added to common foods - a policy already used in the USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland and Australia.
As well as saving lives this policy - which would cost just 12p per person per year - would remove a huge burden on the NHS. It would save the public purse £65million by reducing demand for healthcare and treatment for vitamin D deficiency and its complications. Vitamin D is known to strengthen the bones and muscles - and emerging evidence suggests it also protects against respiratory infections, boosts cognition and may even cut the chance of dying from cancer.
One in five British adults and one in six children is deficient in the vitamin, thanks to our modern diets, indoor lifestyle and grey weather. During the spring and summer, the skin makes vitamin D when it is exposed to the sun. But in the autumn and winter Britain's gloomy weather, and our indoor lifestyles, means most people have to rely on their diet to get enough of the vital vitamin.
