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Actions urged to combat widespread European vitamin D deficiencies

01-Oct-2014 - Last updated on 14-Nov-2022 at 15:37 GMT

Potential measures for lifting vitamin D intakes include, "promotion of dietary recommendations, food fortification, vitamin D supplementation and judicious sun exposure, but should take into account national, cultural and dietary habits.”

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Greater vitamin D fortification of foods and supplementation can help tackle vitamin D deficiencies that remain prevalent across Europe – with Finland a good example of the success of such measures, a review has found.

It said measurement of adequate vitamin D intakes needed greater harmonisation to assist governments in implementing policies to tackle an issue that has been linked to a return of rickets and other health issues.

“The ongoing standardisation of measurements in vitamin D research will facilitate a stronger evidence base on which policies can be determined,” the researchers wrote.

“These policies may include promotion of dietary recommendations, food fortification, vitamin D supplementation and judicious sun exposure, but should take into account national, cultural and dietary habits.”

“For European nations with supplementation policies, it is important that relevant parties ensure satisfactory uptake of these particularly in the most vulnerable groups of the population.”

On Finland, the research that was backed by Kellogg’s and published in the British Nutrition Foundation’s journal Nutrition, concluded, “…national policies that include fortification and supplementation, coupled with a high habitual intake of oil-rich fish, have resulted in an increase in vitamin D intakes…”

Source:

Nutrition

First published 30 September 2014 (DOI: 10.1111/nbu.12108)

‘Vitamin D: An overview of vitamin D status and intake in Europe’

Authors:A. Spiro, J. L. Buttriss