As we start the month of May, the warmer, longer days and brilliant sunshine are a welcome change after what has felt like a long winter battling the latest waves of the Covid pandemic. Happily, with infection rates on the decline, and life returning to normal, it’s a great time to get back on track with taking care of our physical and mental health and well-being.
There has been a lot of talk recently about the importance that vitamins play in strengthening our defences and resilience to infections and chronic diseases. The truth is that they are absolutely vital for our health and well-being and I want to raise awareness about the importance of something a lot of people take for granted – vitamin D. This crucial vitamin helps to keep our bones, teeth and muscles strong and healthy.
The bad news is Black people tend to have much lower levels than white people.
The body naturally produces vitamin D in response to the skin’s exposure to sunlight. But for people like me with darker skin and most people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities with darker skin tones, we have higher levels of melanin which reduces our ability to produce the vital vitamin. This means our vitamin D concentration is around 65% lower in Black adults compared to white adults.
In severe cases, vitamin D deficiency can lead to bone problems such as rickets in children and weakness, aches and pains due to osteomalacia in adults.
It is not fair that a person’s skin colour or background should dictate their prospects for a healthy life. So I want to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining healthy vitamin D levels all year round. If you have dark skin, you should consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D, even as we enter the summer months.
At the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), we are doing everything we can to reduce preventable diseases and illnesses, such as those caused by vitamin D deficiency, by working with experts, businesses and organisations and getting feedback from the public. We want to make sure everyone’s voice is heard on how best we can level up the health of the nation.
Recently OHID launched a national campaign to gather views from the public, public health experts, retailers, food manufacturers and other industry bodies on ambitious ways to improve uptake of vitamin D, especially among at-risk groups with darker skin tones.
We are looking at practical solutions to tackle the problem, such as increased promotion of supplements, fortified food and drinks, local public health campaigns, raising awareness among health professionals and sharing best practice and innovation in health and care settings.
The call for evidence on vitamin D has been open for five weeks – but with only a week left, we want to hear from groups particularly at risk, such as people from Black African and Black Caribbean communities.
So please, go online and have your say on ways we can encourage people, and especially our Black communities, to increase their vitamin D intake and ultimately live longer, healthier and happier lives.
Your views will contribute to our Health Disparities White Paper, due to be published shortly, which will set out action to reduce health inequalities between different places and communities and address their causes.
Vitamin D: call for evidence – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
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