Fed up with this gloomy, grey weather? There’s a way to bring a little sunshine into your life every day with new Ddrops®, a range of liquid vitamin D3 supplements tailored for each generation of your family. If you are planning a family, have a family or just need a little Vitamin D in your life – Ddrops are the answer. The information changes so much with regards to Vitamin supplements, even in the 2 years since I had Isla.
The UK receives an average of 4 hours of sunlight daily, and only 2.5 hours in the winter months . It’s no surprise then that the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, showed that up to 1 in 4 people in the UK have low levels of vitamin D in their blood. Vitamin D is made naturally when skin is exposed to direct sunlight in the summer sun, and natural sources can be found in milk, eggs, fish and meat. Sunscreen use is important as it helps prevent skin cancers but sun screens also block the UV light required to make vitamin D in our skin.
We all need Vitamin D because it:
- helps the body absorb calcium and phosphorous from foods to maintain healthy bones and teeth
- contributes to the maintenance of normal muscle function
- contributes to the normal function of the immune system and healthy inflammatory response
If you’re newly pregnant, you may not be aware of guidelines for taking vitamin D before, during and after pregnancy to support foetal and breast fed babies’ development. It certainly wasn’t’ recommended when I had my children in 2010 and 2012 respectively. Specific guidelines for vitamin D supplementation were issued by the Department of Health in 2011 and revised in 2012. So if you’re a second time mother you may have diligently taken your folic acid but be unaware of the importance of vitamin D supplementation. In addition mothers who have low or no exposure to the sun, for example those who cover their skin for cultural reasons, or who have darker skin, for example people of African, African-Caribbean and South Asian origin, need this supplement because their bodies are not able to make as much vitamin D.
The Ddrops family of vitamin D supplements is available from Boots.