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Vitamin D is an important vitamin that helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body.
Calcium and phosphate are necessary for healthy bones, teeth and muscles.
A lack of vitamin D can make the bones soft and weak.
This can lead to bone deformities such as rickets in children and bone pain in adults.
In the spring and summer, from the end of March to the end of September, most people get all the vitamin D they need from the sun.
Indeed, the body creates vitamin D from the direct sunlight on the skin.
However, during the fall and winter months in the UK, from October to March, sunlight does not contain enough UVB rays in winter so that the skin can produce vitamin D.
In order to avoid a deficiency, the UK Department of Health recommends everyone to take a daily vitamin D supplement during these months.
Daily supplements must contain 10 μg of vitamin D.
It is important not to take too much vitamin D supplements over a long period of time as this can lead to excessive calcium build-up in the body.
This condition, called hypercalcemia, can weaken bones and damage the kidneys and heart.
The NHS warns not to take more than 100 mg of vitamin D per day as this could be harmful.
Children aged 1 to 10 years should not have more than 50 mg per day, and infants under 12 months should have a maximum of 25 mg.
"If you choose to take vitamin D supplements, 10 mg a day will be enough for most people," said the NHS.
It is also possible to obtain vitamin D from certain foods, such as oily fish, red meat, liver, egg yolks and fortified foods.
Oily fish includes salmon, sardines, herring and mackerel.
Fortified foods include most fat spreads and some breakfast cereals.
Although sunlight provides enough vitamin D for most people in the spring and summer, some people may still be deficient at this stage.
Among those still at risk during the summer are those who are not often outside, those who live in retirement homes, and people who usually wear clothes that cover most of the skin at home. outside.
Dark-skinned people of African, African, Caribbean, and South Asian descent may also not receive enough vitamin D due to the sun.
As a result, people in these categories may wish to take vitamin D supplements all year round.
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