Vitamin D is often referred to as the sunshine vitamin because our skin magically uses the sun’s rays to make it. We can also get a little of it from our diet. Which is lucky as most of us tend to spend a lot of time indoors and don’t get enough Vitamin D.

It’s estimated that more than 1 billion people worldwide have Vitamin D deficiency. The darker your skin tone the more sunshine you need to make enough Vitamin D for your body, especially if you live somewhere with lots of cloudy days like the UK.

We should all try to make sure we’re getting enough *Vitamin D every day, because it’s essential for our body and our health. Read on to find out why.

Vitamin D supports the normal function of the immune system, helping your body tick along happily and help you feel resilient. It has some clever tricks up its sleeve and helps the normal function of your bones, teeth, muscles, and brain. Clever vitamin D.

We already know that Vitamin D is pretty amazing, but scientists are finding out more every day about how important Vitamin D can be to us.

Vitamin D is more than one thing, it’s a family of nutrients that look alike.

There are different types of vitamin D such as vitamin D2 which comes from plant sources such as wild mushrooms and food with vitamin D added to them. We have D2 in our Actimel 100% dairy free range. Vitamin D2 is suitable for vegans.

Vitamin D3 mainly comes from animal sources like, fish oils, fatty fish, liver, pork and egg yolks. The type of Vitamin D your skin makes in the sunshine is Vitamin D3. We have D3 in our Actimel dairy ranges such as Actimel original, Actimel 0% fat 0% added sugar * and Actimel Supermix.

Your body is better at using vitamin D3, so if you are only getting Vitamin D2 in your diet make sure you are getting outside more often.

From about late March to the end of September, the majority of people should be able to make all the Vitamin D they need from sunlight with their skin. Children from the age of one 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. A microgram is 1,000 times smaller than a milligram (mg).

One shot of Actimel dairy yogurt drinks contains a third of the daily reference intake in vitamin D. Actimel is rich in vitamin D which helps to support the normal function of the immune system. Why not give it a shot?

Now you know how important these vitamins are, why not find out more about the immune system?
https://www.actimel.co.uk/immune-system/introduction-to-the-immune-system/an-introduction-to-the-immune-system

Main source: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-d/