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Most Europeans receive too little vitamin D. Even in some countries in Southern Europe this is true. Few foods sources contain vitamin D and the main provider is the sun. According to leading vitamin D scientists, between 80 and 100 per cent of our vitamin D requirement is met by solar radiation. Just 30 minutes of exposure to the face and arms each day between April and October (when the sun’s rays are strongest) are enough at mid latitudes to ensure adequate levels. Yet most of us receive too little from the sun and food combined.

Recently many studies have revealed that an adequate vitamin D status can reduce the risk of most types of internal cancer by up to 30 per cent. Insufficient levels have also been linked to other conditions, including MS, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, coronary heart diseases, influenza and a number of immune related disorders, while higher than optimal levels of vitamin D may lead to calcification.

In many parts of Europe almost no vitamin D is generated in the skin in winter because the solar radiation contains too little ultraviolet radiation. Even in summer many people working indoor lack the time and opportunity to have themselves exposed to moderate sunlight. Professor Johan Moan of the Radium University Hospital in Oslo says: “Ideally people should get ten-minute stints in the midday  sun during those months when UVB radiation is strongest.” Professor Moan continues: ”The mere fact that people living close to the Equator have a dark skin colour, while we who live at high latitudes are white is the way nature itself tells us that humans need some solar radiation”.