{"id":174287,"date":"2025-10-02T03:11:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T03:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/174287\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T03:11:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T03:11:10","slug":"nhs-alert-as-people-urged-to-take-2p-pill-daily-until-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/174287\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS alert as people urged to take 2p pill daily until 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Health experts say it provides vital nutrients during the cold winter months<\/p>\n

Kate Lally SEO writer and Andrew Nuttall U35 Lifestyle Writer<\/p>\n

13:44, 01 Oct 2025<\/p>\n

\"TheThe NHS suggests most adults and children take this supplement from October until March(Image: Getty )<\/p>\n

People across the UK have been urged to start taking a cheap supplement<\/a> for the rest of the year and into 2026. Medical experts say most of the population will benefit from taking this 2p tablet daily due to the weather changing and clocks going back.<\/p>\n

Vitamin D<\/a> helps regulate calcium and phosphate concentrations in the body, and these essential minerals<\/a> maintain bones, teeth, and muscles in peak condition. A lack of vitamin D can cause bone malformations such as rickets in children, while adults may experience bone discomfort from osteomalacia, commonly called “soft bones.”<\/p>\n

From late March or early April until the end of September, most people can <\/a>absorb enough vitamin D naturally<\/a> through sunlight exposure alone. However, due to reduced daylight during autumn and winter, health authorities are suggesting that people take a daily vitamin D tablet to still get the correct amount despite the lack of sunshine.<\/p>\n

According to reports by The Mirror<\/a>, everyone should consider starting this habit from October. This recommendation from the NHS<\/a> stays in effect until March, when the season starts to shift into brighter days.<\/p>\n

Plenty of shops sell different forms of vitamin D, depending on what is easiest for you or your children to take. Boots sells its own branded version in \u00a34 packs<\/a>, which works out at around 2p per pill.<\/p>\n

\"GoldenThe cheap tablet can help during the winter months(Image: Olga Pankova via Getty Images)Who is most at risk of becoming deficient?<\/p>\n

The NHS says that people at high risk of not getting enough vitamin D are mostly young children. Its website lists all children between the ages of one and four and babies (unless they’re having more than 500ml of infant formula a day).<\/p>\n

The health service goes on to share that children over the age of one need “up to 10 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin D each day.” This target also applies to adults.<\/p>\n

If you have dark skin \u2013 for example, you have an African, African-Caribbean or South Asian background \u2013 you may also not make enough vitamin D from sunlight. Likewise, some people will not make enough vitamin D from sunlight because they have very little or no sunshine exposure.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople can pick up a pack of the supplement cheaply in health shops(Image: gorodenkoff via Getty Images)Are supplements the only option for getting Vitamin D?<\/p>\n

Besides sunlight, vitamin D is present naturally in a small selection of foods, such as oily fish, red meat, egg yolks, and fortified breakfast cereals. However, people shouldn’t rely on these sources alone.<\/p>\n

NHS guidance says: “Since it’s difficult for people to get enough vitamin D from food alone, everyone should consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D during the autumn and winter.”<\/p>\n

The Department of Health and Social Care recommends that breastfed infants, or those consuming less than 500ml (approximately a pint) of formula milk per day, should receive a daily supplement containing 8.5 to 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Health experts say it provides vital nutrients during the cold winter months Kate Lally SEO writer and Andrew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[7503,102,104,6636,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-174287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-children","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-nhs","11":"tag-nutrition","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}