Sun-starved Scots at risk of disease
19 September 2008
There is still a way to go before we fully understand the link between a person's vitamin D levels and their risk of
cancer 
Sara Hiom, director of health information, Cancer Research UK
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Poor health in Scotland could be due to a lack of sunshine, according to a report entitled "Scotland's Health Deficit: An Explanation and a Plan", published this week.
The report has been published by the Health Research Forum, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes new ways to improve public health. They examined levels of vitamin D and death rates from chronic diseases across Europe. The results showed that Scotland had higher rates of heart disease and certain cancers than England and most other Western European countries, and the lowest levels of Vitamin D.
Vitamin D deficiency is thought to be caused by low exposure to sunshine. People who live in Scotland are at risk of low levels of vitamin D because Scotland gets less sunshine than England and most other Western European countries.
According to the author of the report, Dr Oliver Gillie, not having enough vitamin D may increase the risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. "I was surprised that there was so much detailed evidence of various kinds scattered in the scientific literature which was all consistent with my suggestion that insufficient vitamin D could do much to explain the high incidence of chronic disease in Scotland," he said.
"I was also surprised to find that there was almost no mention of vitamin D in numerous reports on Scottish health. It just has not been considered as a factor before," he added.
Dr Gillie suggests that the current recommendations for the daily intake of vitamin D are far too low, and that children and adults in the UK should take a daily supplement of vitamin D. He also thinks that foods should be fortified with vitamin D to improve people's intake of the vitamin.
However Sara Hiom, Cancer Research UK's director of health information, said: "There is some evidence that vitamin D has a role to play in preventing certain cancers, most notably bowel cancer. But there is still a way to go before we fully understand the link between a person's vitamin D levels and their risk of cancer. We are waiting for the results of an international report on all the evidence linking vitamin D and cancer, due out later this year."
She added: "Cancer Research UK's advice for people looking to reduce their risk of cancer and to promote general wellbeing remains unchanged - eat a healthy balanced diet, stay active, avoid heavy sun exposure and, above all, don't smoke."
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