Over 60s in the UK and Australia have the same problem…

There is a terrible health epidemic going on inside most over 60s in Britain – and also right here in Australia. And there’s a good chance that it will be affecting you.

We have a vitamin D shortage. In fact, Deakin university have found that one in three Australians are Vitamin D deficient. And it’s having huge health implications on us all.

I know we can’t blame a non-sentient chemical for scheming to make us frail and weak, but there is something else we can blame – and his name is Sol. As you know, vitamin D is made by our bodies when in the presence of sunshine. So, you see, the sun is only indirectly to blame – but I’ll get to that later. All right, it’s already a tiny bit later…so it’s not the sun itself, it’s actually the weather that is at fault.

So let’s start to get some facts together. First off, there are sources of vitamin D other than sunlight: vitamin D occurs naturally in a few foods, including some fish, fish liver oils and egg yolks – and in some fortified dairy and grain products.

Vitamin D is essential for strong bones because it helps the body use calcium from the diet. Traditionally, vitamin D deficiency has been associated with rickets, a disease in which the bone tissue doesn’t properly mineralise, leading to soft bones and skeletal deformities. But increasingly, research is revealing the importance of vitamin D in protecting against a host of health problems.

Symptoms such as bone pain and muscle weakness can be indicators of vitamin D deficiency. However, for most people, the symptoms are subtle. Yet even without symptoms, too little vitamin D can pose health risks. Low blood levels of vitamin D have been associated with the following:

• higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease
• cognitive impairment in seniors
• severe asthma in children
• cancer

Research suggests that vitamin D could play a role in the prevention and treatment of a number of different conditions, including type1 and type 2 diabetes, hypertension, glucose intolerance and multiple sclerosis.

There are also a host of factors that work against D inside our bodies, such as milk allergies and strict vegetarian diets, but vitamin D deficiency can occur for a relatively large number of other reasons:

You may not be consuming the recommended levels of the vitamin over time – this is likely if you follow a strict vegetarian diet, because most of the natural sources are animal-based, including fish and fish oils, egg yolks, cheese, fortified milk, and beef liver.

Your exposure to sunlight is limited. Because the body makes vitamin D when your skin is exposed to sunlight, you may be at risk of deficiency if you are homebound, live in northern latitudes, wear long robes or head coverings for religious reasons, or have an occupation that prevents sun exposure.

You have dark skin. The pigment melanin reduces the skin’s ability to make vitamin D in response to sunlight exposure. Some studies show that older adults with darker skin are at high risk of vitamin D deficiency.

Your kidneys cannot convert vitamin D to its active form. As people age their kidneys are less able to convert vitamin D to its active form, thus increasing their risk of vitamin D deficiency.

Your digestive tract cannot adequately absorb vitamin D. Certain medical problems, including Crohn’s disease (an inflammatory bowel disorder), cystic fibrosis, and coeliac disease, can affect your intestine’s ability to absorb vitamin D from the food you eat.

You are obese. Vitamin D is extracted from the blood by fat cells, altering its release into the circulation. People with a BMI (body mass index) of 30 or greater often have low blood levels of vitamin D.

Why are Poms and Aussies both so prone to a lack of Vitamin D? It’s obvious – both groups don’t get enough sunlight… but for opposite reasons.

Britain is famous for its lack of sunny days – but Australia has the most sunlight of any continent. Aussies are known as sun bunnies, but the growing incidence of skin cancer has cast a shadow over most of us. We use so much sun-block that we face the simple option of being white and D-free…or brown and in the ground.

So the answer for us less-bronzed Aussies is to shun the sun and ensure you eat vitamin D-rich foods or take vitamin D supplements.

What are your thoughts on achieving a sunny, balanced approach to inner health? Do you have a vitamin D deficiency? How do you make sure you get enough?