What strength Vitamin D should I take?

If you don’t go outside for exercise during lockdown or you are frail or housebound, you could be Vitamin D deficient.

If you are in an institution like a care home or wear clothes that cover most of your skin, you could also be deficient.

Those with darker skin tones are also more at risk of being Vitamin D deficient.

This is because the melanin in dark skin blocks the absorption of the sun’s UVB rays.

How to get enough Vitamin D

Between October and early March, we don’t get enough Vitamin D from the sunlight.

This is even more of a problem during the pandemic, because most of us are avoiding stepping outside.

You can top up on Vitamin D by eating specific foods, including oily fish such as salmon, sardines, herring and mackerel, as well as red meat.

Liver, egg yolks, and fortified foods such as some fat spreads and breakfast cereals are also good sources of Vitamin D.