We get most of our Vitamin D from sunlight but many people:
Live in countries with too little sun.
Vitamin D is crucial to health across all population groups. Recently the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition in the UK ran a review to see exactly how crucial it was and how we, as a population, were going to meet our needs. The review got a lot of publicity as it recommended that everyone over the age of 4 have a daily supplement of 10μg (400IU) per day of vitamin D. However, what does this mean for your child who is under the age of 4? We look further into the new guidelines and suggest what impact they might have on the vitamin D consumption of your child.
Most people associate vitamin D deficiency with a disease called rickets, characterised by a bowing of the legs during childhood. As vitamin D is an essential nutrient for bone health, in addition to rickets, deficiency is also associated with increases in bone fractures, falls, and a general loss of musculoskeletal functioning.
In addition to bone health, vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to some cancers, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and cognitive functions, however, further studies need to be carried out on these diseases.
There are 3 main sources of vitamin D:
Sunlight is the main source of vitamin D, however, in the UK and the USA, we can only get vitamin D from the sun between the months of April to October. Additionally, covering up, using sunscreen, wearing veils, staying indoors and air pollution (all of which are on the rise) prevent our skin from absorbing the UVB rays needed to produce vitamin D.
Therefore, we then turn to diet to meet our vitamin D needs. Unfortunately, dietary sources of vitamin D are limited and to meet your full needs through diet would require copious amounts of egg and fish – very nearly impossible for the majority of the population.
This leaves only the option of supplementation to meet our vitamin D needs.
From about late March/early April to the end of September, the majority of people should be able to make all the vitamin D they need from sunlight on their skin.
Children from the age of 1 year and adults need 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day. This includes pregnant and breastfeeding women, and people at risk of vitamin D deficiency.
Babies up to the age of 1 year need 8.5 to 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day.
A microgram is 1,000 times smaller than a milligram (mg). The word microgram is sometimes written with the Greek symbol μ followed by the letter g (μg).
Sometimes the amount of vitamin D is expressed as International Units (IU). 1 microgram of vitamin D is equal to 40 IU. So 10 micrograms of vitamin D is equal to 400 IU.
Formula fed babies and toddlers
Children who are still having infant formula will receive their vitamin D from the formula which must, by law, be fortified with vitamin D. On average, an intake of approximately 700ml (~25oz) per day or more will mean they meet their vitamin D needs. Once they are on less than this, a vitamin D supplement will be required to meet their needs.
Breastfed babies and toddlers
It was previously assumed that breastfed infants would obtain their vitamin D through mothers stores, however, this now seems unlikely and therefore exclusively breastfed infants and infants taking both breast and formula milk are recommended to take an 8.5-10 μg supplement daily. Once they are over 1 this supplementation should increase to 10μg per day and continue indefinitely.
If you are pregnant or breastfeeding you can take a Vitamin D supplement to help boost your stores of Vitamin D for your breastmilk and baby too.
The new guidelines mean that every infant, toddler, child, adolescent and adult (barring infants taking >700ml of infant formula per day) requires a vitamin D supplement. In children under 12 months old this is an 8.5-10 μg supplement daily and every other person requires a 10 μg supplement daily.
