Children’s Indoor Lives Mean They May Need Vitamin D Supplement

A leading scientist has urged people to consider taking vitamin D supplements, because children spend an hour a day less outside than they did ten years ago.

Steve Jones, a professor of genetics at University College London, told the Hay Festival in Powys, where he was discussing his book Here Comes the Sun, that Britain’s cloudy weather posed a health risk, in part because sunshine was needed to create vitamin D.

“It can tackle infectious disease; it changes mood; if you have a shortage you’re more likely to get kidney disease . . . it is really important stuff. The evidence that the shortage of sunlight has drastic effects on health is overwhelming,” he said, according to The Guardian.