Vitamin D

There are currently no plans to reassess the current vitamin D recommendations for vitamin D intake and status for the whole population. United Kingdom dietary recommendations are based on advice from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN).

Current vitamin D advice is based on the SACN’s 2016 report which included a robust assessment of the evidence on vitamin D and a wide range of health outcomes.

The SACN concluded that the evidence overall suggests that risk of poor musculoskeletal health increases at serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations below 25 nanomoles per litre. This was therefore considered to be a ‘population protective level’, the concentration that 97.5% of individuals in the UK should achieve, or be above, in terms of protecting musculoskeletal health.

In order to achieve this, Government advice is for everyone to take a 10 microgram, or 400 international units, daily supplement of vitamin D during the autumn and winter. For people at risk of not receiving enough vitamin D during the summer months, including those with African, African-Caribbean, or south Asian backgrounds, the Government recommends they consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the year. For all children aged one to four years old, and all babies, unless they're having more than 500 millilitres of infant formula a day, the Government recommends that they should take a daily supplement throughout the year.

Vitamin D intakes and status, or concentrations in the blood, are monitored through the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey.