but how can you make sure children are getting enough?
Vitamin D, best known as the 'sunshine vitamin', is made in our bodies by the reaction of our skin to ultraviolet B (UVB) rays in sunlight. Unfortunately, between October and April, it is estimated that much of Western Europe, including about 90 per cent of the UK, lies too far north for the sunlight to have enough of the UVB rays necessary for making vitamin D in the skin - the UV index has to be greater than three. As a rule of thumb, it is said that if your shadow is longer than your body, the sun is not strong enough to have an effect.
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