Staying indoors for a long time due to the lockdown may have a serious health repercussions specially amongst the urban Indian population most of who have been Vitamin D deficient.
This is a matter for lot of thought because lot of world medical researchers have suggested that vitamin D deficiency may be linked to poorer immunity and slower recovery if someone catches coronavirus.
In fact, eminent medical researchers from University Hospital, Angers (a France University Hospital) are doing clinical trials to see if vitamin D helps coronavirus patients.
(Source:https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04334005 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04344041)
According to India’s eminent Nutritionist Avni Kaul, “lot of you might think of vitamin D as being just another vitamin, but it acts more like a hormone since our body produces it by combining other chemicals. Vitamin D is essential for the regulation and intake of calcium. A lack of Vitamin D can cause poor bone density and has been linked to depression and poor immune system.”
In this blog post, Nutritionist Avni Kaul shares important tips on how to maintain Vitamin D levels in body, if you are staying mostly indoors and missing adequate sunlight.
Getting Vitamin D through the right Diet intake
When you are staying mostly indoors, you can add food that are rich in vitamin D. Some of the Vitamin D rich food like:
Fatty fish like Salmon and Sardines. These fishes are expensive and are not easily available in India, but if you can afford these, then you can ensure a good source of Vitamin D.
Egg yolks: Eggs are easily available and are a good source of vitamin D. They are also packed with many nutrients. While most of the protein in an egg is found in the white portion, the fat and vitamin D are found in the yolk.
Mushrooms are good plant source of vitamin D. Like humans, mushrooms can synthesize this vitamin when exposed to UV light.
Fortified Cow milk: Though cow milk naturally doesn’t contain Vitamin D, but many milk companies add Vitamin D to the pasteurised milk. In fact in some countries, including Canada and Sweden, vitamin D is added to cow’s milk by law. In India, it’s not mandatory, but many milk brands add it voluntarily during milk processing.
Soy milk
Since Vitamin D is largely found in animal products, for vegetarians and vegans most of the Soya milk companies often add fortified soy milk with Vitamin D and with other nutrients that are usually found in cow’s milk.
Managing a Daily Dose of Sunlight
Even when you are maintaining social distancing and staying indoors, try to spend a little time every day in the sun by sitting in your home or apartment terrace in the morning. If you have a little garden or open space, then sit there for minimum 20-30 minutes every day to soak in the sun
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