Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the review by the Royal Society Vitamin D and COVID-19, published on 18 June, which noted both the high levels of Vitamin D deficiency in the UK’s population and its important regulatory role in the human immune system, what steps they are taking to prevent vitamin D deficiency as a public health measure.

Between October and March, the United Kingdom population does not get enough vitamin D from sunlight. Vitamin D can be found in a small number of foods. However, since it is difficult for people to get enough vitamin D from food alone, Public Health England (PHE) recommends that all adults and children over four years old (including pregnant and breastfeeding women) should consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D, especially during winter. This advice is on the National Health Service website online and comes from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition’s 2016 report Vitamin D and Health.

PHE re-issued this advice in April 2020 which reminded people to consider taking vitamin D supplements, especially if they were not going outdoors during lockdown. This advice emphasised the importance of vitamin D for bone and muscle health.

We continue to consider what additional communication messages might be needed to ensure this information remains accessible to the public and health professionals as we move into the winter months.