Did Granny know best? Are we getting enough Vitamin D?

D for Deficient

Young people in Europe are increasingly Vitamin D deficient and in fact, some health professionals are even calling it a pandemic! 1 New research we have carried out shows that it could be because people are rejecting the foods eaten by our grannies. The rise of hipster food trends means younger people are missing out on vital Vitamin D, because they reject ‘old timer’ foods like jellied eels, kippers and sardines because they aren’t ‘on trend.’

Leading health experts have also warned of the effects of not getting enough Vitamin D, which can cause many health problems associated with bones, muscles and cardiovascular issues.

Many people are simply relying on the sun for their Vitamin D. But, the ‘sunshine vitamin’ is only produced naturally during the months of April until September, so in the dark months it is important to up your Vitamin D intake.

Vital Vitamin D

That’s why through our ‘Better Starts’ initiative Kellogg’s has added up to 50 percent of daily Vitamin D needs to our cereals to help tackle the chronic low levels of this essential vitamin in the UK. 2 So what better way to get your Vitamin D than in a crunchy bowl of your favourite cereal?

Speaking about the Kellogg’s Better Starts campaign, Laura Street, senior Kellogg’s nutrition manager said: “Today everyone can be an online foodie, sharing what they eat on Instagram. Very few foods naturally contain Vitamin D and those that do aren’t that exciting or on trend so people are moving away from these in favour of more attractive meals.

“But, this does have health implications. When it comes to Vitamin D we cannot get the levels we need from sunshine so we have to look to diet. Even if you eat a diet considered to be healthy, it’s still difficult to consume the amount of Vitamin D needed, and so fortified foods play a key role to helping to combat the nation’s Vitamin D insufficiencies. This is why we have increased the Vitamin D levels in many of our cereals to 50 per cent of your daily needs.”

Bright ideas

Here at Kellogg’s we have a long legacy of adding vitamins to our food. We were the first company to voluntarily add vitamins and minerals to foods in 1938 and since the 1970s, we added Folic Acid to cereal to help combat neural tube defects in new-born babies. We were also the first cereal company to fortify its family range with 25 per cent of daily Vitamin D needs in 2011.

Going into 2018 we’ll continue to do all we can to make Vitamin D more accessible and available to all of our consumers.