Study Finds Over a Quarter of Adults Aged 50+ Are Deficient in Vitamin D

A study published in Nutrients found more than a quarter of adults 50 and older are deficient in vitamin D, reports Medical Xpress . Fifty-seven percent had inadequate serum vitamin D levels, of which 26 percent were deemed vitamin D deficient. Among the determinants of deficiency were female gender, age of 80 years or more, smoking, non-Caucasian ethnicity, obesity, and poor self-reported health. Use of vitamin D supplements, sun travel in the past year, and the summer season were identified as positive determinants, and thus potentially protective against vitamin D deficiency in seniors. "Those who used a vitamin D supplement, were less likely to be vitamin D deficient as may be expected, but supplement use was low (4.4 percent) and, therefore, food fortification and other strategies need to be considered at policy level for older populations," noted Trinity College Dublin's Niamh Aspell. Trinity's Eamon Laird added that "countries such as Finland have implemented a successful vitamin D fortification policy which has all but eliminated deficiency in the population. Such a policy could easily be implemented in the U.K. and Ireland."