15/10/2025
ADVICE ON VITAMIN D THIS WINTER
Between the months of October to March, everyone over the age of 4 years old is advised to take 10 micrograms* (400IU) of vitamin D daily.
You can purchase these cheaply from supermarkets, high street health and beauty stores and pharmacies.
Vitamin D is essential for healthy teeth and bones, supporting nerve function and maintaining muscle strength to help prevent falls and assisting the immune system to fight infection. Most people don’t have symptoms of low vitamin D, but supplements may help with aches and pains and tiredness.
The body creates vitamin D from direct sunlight on the skin when outdoors and only a few foods contain vitamin D. Only 10% of our body’s vitamin D needs comes from our diet.
Foods high in vitamin D include: -
• Oily fish – such as salmon, mackerel, trout and kippers
• Milk and milk products
• Red meat, egg yolk, some mushrooms
• Fortified foods – fat spreads, breakfast cereals, malted drinks, plant-based milk alternatives,
Even in spring and summer, some of us are more at risk of not having enough vitamin D including those with dark skin (such as those with African, African-Caribbean or south Asian backgrounds), people who are not outdoors often, those in care homes. We advise these people to take a vitamin D supplement all year round.
In the UK between October and early March, we can’t make vitamin D from sunlight because the sun is too low in the sky. Because it’s difficult to get enough vitamin D from food, it is advised that everyone over the age of 4 years take a vitamin D supplement during the autumn and winter.
Provided you take no more than this recommended dose, it is not required that you take vitamin K with your vitamin D supplement. This we can easily get vitamin K from our diet by eating green leafy veg, eggs, meat, dairy products, soy.
Beware! Mega doses of vitamin D and K are not necessary and could be unsafe in certain circumstances so don’t be drawn in to the marketing claims.The NHS advice is that for adults taking more than 100 micrograms (4,000IU) per day can be harmful.
Some people who have been identified as vitamin D deficient from a blood test will be prescribed what is known a loading dose for a short time, after this, it is essential to keep levels up with the minimum recommended dose of 10 micrograms (400 IU) per day.
*Micrograms is often represented as µg or mcg
For more information see here;
Vitamin D Food Fact Sheet
https://www.nutrition.org.uk/nutritional-information/vitamins-and-minerals/
