COVID: Vitamin D Supplementation

Faced with a global pandemic, the UK Government’s current focus is, quite rightly, on ensuring our national health service gets the urgent support it needs. This has involved increasing the level of testing for COVID 19, with a target of 100,000 tests each day by the end of April, reducing infection rates through social distancing measures and sourcing additional protective equipment for our healthcare professionals.

What’s perhaps received less attention, while still making news headlines, is the recent recommendation from Public Heath England that the public should consider taking Vitamin D supplementation.

Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of absorbed calcium and phosphate in the body, with a lack of vitamin D leading to bone deformities such as rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. As is widely known, the main source of Vitamin D is sunlight and, while we’ve had a glorious sunny April, our levels of absorption will be significantly reduced during this period of lockdown, where people are spending less time outdoors than usual and, some, none at all.

Rickets is often considered to be a ‘Victorian disease’, although even prior to the COVID 19 pandemic the NHS has reported a 34% increase in the reported cases of Rickets as recently as 2018. So unless you’re out there cycling 100 kms over a weekend then in the current state of lockdown PHE’s recommendation of Vitamin D supplementation could be good to consider.

Opalbond has a complete range of Vitamin D finished products available including Vitamin D drops, capsules, tablets and effervescent tablets.