Another day, another story about the risks of vitamin D deficiency, this time on the BBC – Experts Review Vitamin D Advice. I have a suspicion, not backed up by science, that vitamin D will turn out to be the most important micronutrient in out diet. As well as the proven link to rickets, researchers are also investigating links to some cancers, heart disease, multiple sclerosis and depression.
I think it’s significant that Jack Drummond, the architect of the wartime rationing diet, started his career researching fat-soluble vitamins, of which vitamin D is one. When he was designing the diet, he included big dollops of cod liver oil, especially for children, pregnant women and nursing mothers. He was also a great fan of fortifying flour and margarine with vitamins, as not everyone could get their hands on fresh eggs, fish or fish oils. People came out of the war much better nourished than they had been when they went into it, if a little bored of the fare.
Today, I suspect most people get their dietary vitamin D from fortified breakfast cereals, spreads and such like. Why, then, is one in four toddlers vitamin D deficient? Is it because they don’t play outside, or are slathered in SPF50 when they do? Or perhaps the synthetic vitamin D used in fortification isn’t as good as the naturally occurring stuff?
