Winter Weather Linked To Deprivation of Vitamin D In City Dwellers, Study Suggests

RTXVBC4 — A man sunbathes as he smokes a waterpipe at a public beach in Beirut December 2,2010. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

Harsh winter weather has resulted in more than half of city dwellers experiencing a dip in vitamin D levels, a new study finds.

The study was conducted by researchers from the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions. In the study, researchers found that almost 50 percent of people have insufficient amounts of vitamin D, and 25 percent may be considered deficient. The researchers also noted that the people most likely to experience such a deficiency are the elderly pregnant and nursing women and coloured people whose skin acts as a natural sunscreen.

Though the body is capable of producing this vitamin, it can only do so when the skin absorbs ultraviolet rays from the sun. Unfortunately, in winter months, people tend to wear more clothes and spend less time outdoors. Therefore, their skin doesn’t get enough exposure to sunlight.

"Every cell in the body is responsive to vitamin D," researcher Peter Horvath of the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions, said in a press statement. "If you're deficient, you won't see the health effects for years and it could take months to get your levels back up."

To make up for the lack of vitamin D from sunlight, Horvath recommends a few alternatives that can help people regain some amount of the essential vitamin. Vitamin D supplementation of between 1,000 and 2,000 international units a day is one option. Food rich in this time vitamin is the other. Such foods include wild-raised salmon and oily fish, breakfast cereals, enriched milk and cod liver oil.

Consequences of Vitamin D deficiency, according to WebMD