Do Your Health a Favour and Get Some Sunshine

New research has shown that living in a cold, dull climate leads to unhealthy low Vitamin D levels.

One in four post-menopausal white women living in Scotland in the UK were found to be Vitamin D deficient during the grey and cloudy winter - compared to not a single one living in the

 south.

The research also showed that 60% of Asian women living in the south of England were Vitamin D deficient during the winter.

Adequate Vitamin D levels are essential for optimum health. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, necessary to build strong bones, and deficiency can cause osteoporosis in adults and rickets in children. The resulting fragile bones result in numerous health problems including avoidable fractures.

The main source of Vitamin D is sunlight - the body manufactures the vitamin in the skin after exposure to ultraviolet light. In the UK, the UV wavelength is not sufficiently intense to produce Vitamin D between October and April so levels of the vitamin have to be topped up by sun exposure in summer or food rich in Vitamin D. Oily fish, liver, eggs, margarine, some breakfast cereals and powdered milk are all good sources of vitamin D.

Aberdeen University's Dr Helen Macdonald led the new study. After evaluating the results, she believes that "the (official) recommendation of ten minutes of sunlight exposure a day may need to be changed for those with darker skin or in higher latitudes."

She studied sunlight exposure and Vitamin D levels in women under the age of 65 in Aberdeen (Scotland) and in Surrey (England). The women were given ultraviolet B light-sensitive badges to measure their exposure to sunlight and their Vitamin D levels were measured at 3-monthly intervals over a 15-month period. The study's results showed that ultraviolet exposure was lower in Aberdeen in the north - and the number of women with Vitamin D deficiency was higher. Deficiency was 25 to 27% during winter and spring, and 4.2% in summer.