Irish scientists urge people to take vitamin D

In a push for vitamin D supplementation that overshines any earlier recommendations, researchers at Trinity College Dublin call for new government guidelines for vitamin D intake. Continue reading and find out why they are so focused on this particular nutrient.

Living in Ireland means less sun exposure than you get in other countries and a large part of the Irish population has too little vitamin D in the blood. This, scientists at Trinity College Dublin say, is a problem and they are now calling for a change of recommendations with one particular benefit in mind: Vitamin D is required for normal immune health.

Supports the immune system

In an article that was published on May 11th on www.irishtimes.com, the researchers point out on behalf of their new report that vitamin D supports the immune system through a number of immune pathways. Their research is backed by a study from Northwestern University in the United States that also saw immune-supporting benefits of vitamin D.

More and more people choose supplements

The challenge with vitamin D is that it is difficult to get enough of the nutrient during the winter period, where the sun sits too low in the sky for the synthesis to take place in our skin. Even in the summer, there is often too little bright sun to undertake the task, and the amount of vitamin D in food is comparatively low. That is the reason why a growing number of people choose supplementation as a way of maintaining an adequate vitamin D status.