By: Blonde Two

I am definitely not a health expert but I do know that getting outside in the sunshine (or even on a cloudy day) makes me feel great. The jury is still out on whether or not vitamin D deficiency has a connection to Covid-19 outcomes. However vitamin D is an interesting one and something to which we should all perhaps be paying a bit more attention.

As a big supporter of the Get Outside message I thought we would all benefit from knowing a bit more about this wonder-vitamin. So I’ve done some Blonde research to find you five things you perhaps didn’t know about vitamin D.

  1. Our muscles, bones and teeth all need vitamin D to remain healthy and heal when they are damaged.

2. In the (UK) spring and summer we can get all the vitamin D we need by getting outside (even if it is cloudy) for a reasonable amount of time (its different for everyone) each day.

3. We can’t increase our vitamin D levels by sitting inside next to a sunny window.

4. We can supplement our vitamin D levels by eating oily fish (tasty), red meat (controversial), egg yolks (delicious) and liver (well I like it but not many people do).

5. Some fortified foods contain artificially added vitamin D (but UK milk currently does not).

 

If you aren’t getting outside but want to increase your vitamin D levels, you have a few choices.

  • Make the outdoors part of your daily routine (the garden definitely counts)
  • Get yourself to the fishmongers or butchers (tricky for vegetarians or vegans)
  • Take supplementary tablets (see here for NHS advice vitamin D advice)

I know which of these I would prefer!