"The exceptional spring weather, which is forecast to continue into next week with a high of 24C today, will offer the best opportunity so far this year to top up D-levels that have become depleted over the winter, scientists say."

"Vitamin D is created by the action of sunlight on the skin and levels in all UK residents are at their lowest at this time of year, after the long winter. Short days and cloudy skies mean 60 per cent of the British population are deficient by the start of spring."

"The malign consequences have been revealed by in a study from the United States which shows that boosting vitamin D may be the most effective way of warding off infections that cause winter colds."

"The authors, from Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, New York, who publish their findings in the journal Epidemiology and Infection, say vitamin D stimulates "innate immunity" by activating peptides in the body that attack bacteria, fungi and viruses."

""Vitamin D supplementation, particularly with higher doses, may protect against the typical winter cold and flu ... Since there is an epidemic of vitamin D insufficiency in the US, the public health impact of this observation could be great," they write."

"Traditional advice has been to swallow large doses of vitamin C at the first sign of a sniffle. But the latest findings suggest we may have been turning to the wrong vitamin. The revelation is the latest addition to a long list of scientific studies highlighting the beneficent qualities of a previously underrated health resource."

"Vitamin D has been described as "the wonder vitamin" after a 40-year review of research found a daily dose could halve the risk of breast and colon cancer. It has also been shown to play a vital role in heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis as well as being essential of bone health."

"Widespread deficiency in the vitamin among populations in the northern hemisphere suggests it may account for several thousand premature deaths from cancers alone, American scientists from the University of San Diego said in the American Journal of Public Health in December 2005. They reviewed 63 scientific papers and concluded "public health action" to boost vitamin D levels was needed."

"High rates of heart disease in Scotland have been blamed on the weak sunlight and short summers in the north. Some experts believe the benefits of the Mediterranean diet have as much to do with the sun the as with the regional food."

"The evidence of its role in fending off two of the commonest infections in the western world - colds and flu - has come from research by US scientists who gave supplements of the vitamin to 208 women over three years in a randomised controlled trial. Half the women were given a 20-microgram dose of vitamin D, increased to 50 micrograms after two years, and the other half were given a placebo. Those who took the genuine vitamin reported a 70 per cent reduction in colds and flu, from 30 episodes to nine over the three-year study."

"All the women were Afro-Caribbeans who were being tested with vitamin D supplements to see if it prevented bone loss, which is a common problem following the menopause. People with dark skins make less vitamin D when exposed to the sun and consequently tend to have lower levels. The startling results offer a new motive to seek, in moderation, the
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