Monday October 21st 6.30 - 7pm
This week is a celebration of the fantastic summer we are having and I wanted to share a few fabulous facts about your favourite sunshine vitamin, you guessed it, Vitamin D!
While we get so much of the wonderful stuff from the sun, often times we cover up and therefore we aren’t actually getting much vitamin D at all. With factor 50 and sun hats, how very British of us!
Now I am not suggesting basking for hours in the sun without some form of UV protection, we know that is harmful to us, but maybe we should reconsider how we interact with the orange ball in the sky. Short bursts of time in the sun, with bare skin (no creams) is the most beneficial, in fact in the height of summer, just 13 minutes of sun exposure gives us a perfect amount of Vitamin D.
Anyway, I am not here to nag you about your sun worshiping, as promised here are some top tips about how you can get Vitamin D safely this summer:
1. Time out in the sun
It has been suggested that exposing your bare skin to sunlight around midday may be the best time to get your Vitamin D levels up, because the sun is at its highest point and the UV rays are at their strongest [1]. Always listen to your body however, and little and often is key, which moves us on nicely to the next point.
2. Little and often
In the UK, getting outside in sunlight for 13 minutes 3 times a week can be enough to keep your
Vitamin D levels healthy if you have lighter skin [1]. If you have darker skin, you may need longer in the
sun as the pigment which makes your skin darker, called melanin, protects the skin from sunlight.
This means it can take longer for your body to produce Vitamin D, so anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours may be required. Alternatively, you may wish to consider supplementing throughout
the year. Modify your exposure for you to ensure you don’t burn [2].
3. Protect yourself
Allowing your skin to see sunlight is excellent for your Vitamin D levels, but it can become harmful
for your skin and body if the boundaries are pushed. If you must be out in the sun for longer than
the short burst, be sure to move to the shade, wear lightweight clothing that covers your skin or
apply sunscreen. And drinking plenty of water is a must!
4. Vitamin D from your diet
You can get Vitamin D from certain foods too. Red meat and liver, duck and chicken eggs, fatty fish
such as salmon, sardines, oysters and shrimp, and button and shitake mushrooms that have been
exposed to sunlight are great sources to get Vitamin D naturally [3].
5. Vitamin D supplementation
The current guidance from Public Health England recommends everyone to consider taking a
supplement between March and October due to the amount of sunshine we get, and the strength of
the UV rays in the UK. The recommended daily amount for adults is 400iu, and babies between 300-
400iu (unless the baby is on formula milk and it is fortified with Vitamin D) [4]. You cannot get too
much Vitamin D from sunshine or food, but issues can come if you are supplementing significantly
over the recommended amount which can be detrimental to your health.
And to wrap this blog off in style, here is a bonus fact for you. Did you know Vitamin D is not really a vitamin at all? It’s actually a hormone! Use that one at the next pub quiz.
With love,
Tom
References:
1. Rhodes LE, Webb AR, Fraser HI, Kift R, Durkin MT, Allan D, O’Brien SJ, Vail A, Berry JL. Recommended summer sunlight exposure levels can produce sufficient (> or =20 ng ml(-1)) but not the proposed optimal (> or =32 ng ml(-1)) 25(OH)D levels at UK latitudes. J Invest Dermatol. 2010 May;130(5):1411-8.
2. NHS. (2020, August 3). NHS. Retrieved from Vitamin D: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-d/
3. Stevenson, S. (2021). Eat Smarter. New York: Little, Brown Spark.
4. GOV.UK. (2016, July 21). GOV.UK. Retrieved from Public Health England: advice on vitamin D: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/phe-publishes-new-advice-on-vitamin-d
