Scotland’s poor health ‘caused by a lack of sunshine’

cozmik

A national campaign to persuade every Scot to take daily supplements of vitamin D is needed if the country’s appalling health record is to be reversed, leading scientists believe.

A report, published this week, links poor weather to the lack of the “sunshine vitamin” in Scotland, and urges the Scottish government to launch a nationwide vitamin D programme to lower the incidence of devastating illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer and multiple sclerosis.

The research points to the country’s damp, cloudy climate as a significant contributor to its bleak record of ill health and disease.

Vitamin D deficiency – caused by lack of exposure to sunshine – is twice as common among the Scots as it is among the English. The average Scot has a vitamin D level four times lower than their neighbour south of the Border.

A five-year research project by Oliver Gillie, a scientist and writer, demonstrates extensive and remarkable parallels between Scotland’s dull weather and indices of disease.

It suggests that the “Scottish effect”, the country’s hitherto unexplained high mortality rate compared with other industrial countries, is in large part down to lack of sun. Crucially, a shortage of the “sunshine vitamin” is established as a factor in higher rates of multiple sclerosis (MS), diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, several types of cancer, cardiovascular disease and other ailments that together give Scotland one of the worst health records and highest premature mortality rates in Western Europe.

Dr Gillie’s study – Scotland’s Health Deficit: An Explanation and a Plan – echoes world-wide research on vitamin D deficiency but goes further, showing how the higher rates of disease in Scotland mirror closely the lower amount of available sunlight.

A lack of sunshine in Glasgow and the West of Scotland reflects levels of chronic illness that which cannot be explained by deprivation alone. A lack of sunshine on Orkney and Shetland – only 24 per cent of the maximum number of hours possible – corresponds to the highest prevalence of MS in the world.

By contrast, the South Coast of England, where such diseases are much less common, receives 400 more hours of sunshine a year than Scotland.

Dr Gillie says that successive reports on the state of Scotland’s health have failed to recognise that insufficient sunlight and vitamin D are important risk factors, and calls for firm action from the Scottish government on supplementation and the fortification of food.

Last week The Times convened a panel of experts who studied the report and endorsed unanimously the importance of vitamin D as an important ingredient in creating a healthy Scottish population.

Dr Harry Burns, the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, said: “It is important that attempts to improve health in Scotland remain focused on action on the social, economic, behavioural and psychological determinants of health. If vitamin D supplements can be shown to contribute to that agenda then we will make the appropriate recommendations.”

Dr Adrian Martineau from Queen Mary’s School of Medicine, London, who is working on evidence that vitamin D can reduce cold and flu symptoms, said: “This is a very important initiative. What [Dr Gillie] has highlighted is that 85 per cent of us have lower Vitamin D levels than we should have and 85 per cent of our cells need vitamin D to function properly. It’s highly plausible that supplementation would be of great benefit.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article4753513.ece

estebancambias

Hate that.

cozmik

estebancambias wrote: »

Hate that.

Our winters are not much better.

seamus

Sounds plausible enough.

It would be interesting to check statistics here and compare illness rates year-on-year and see if our recently wet and unsunny summers have any effect on the general populous. I've also had several people remark to me that they've never fully lost the winter gloom - Vitamin D has been linked with depression. Although that could just be psychosomatic of not having had a chance to chill out in the sun so much.

Apparently in Nordic countries, particularly those with parts of the country in higher latitudes, arrange UV lamps in workplaces, schools and so forth, to stave off Vitamin D deficiency during the long winters with little daylight.

Faith

I've certainly started suffering more from SAD since I moved to Scotland. However, summer here has been pretty much as bad as winter there! It's getting harder to escape the bad weather.