THE ESSENTIAL VITAMIN D DIET

During the summer, a 20-minute dose of sunshine on sunscreen-free skin will provide you with all the vitamin D you need. But when autumn and winter come around, it isn’t as easy to keep your levels up.

Vitamin D is vital to our health for several reasons. Not only does it boost your immune system and strengthen bones, as it helps your body absorb and use calcium effectively, but there’s increasing evidence that it’s linked with a trimmer waistline too. In research at the University of Milan, vitamin D supplements boosted weight loss in overweight people who were deficient in the nutrient, while a study published in the found that overweight adults given extra vitamin D plus calcium lost significantly more stomach fat than people not taking any supplements. Researchers aren’t