Should Australia allow more Vitamin D into the food supply?

Australian and international experts will meet at a symposium in Melbourne next week to debate whether more vitamin D should be allowed into the food supply.

Vitamin D deficiency has recently emerged as a widespread public health issue in Australia, with implications for bone health, cancer, cardiovascular disease and schizophrenia.

The symposium organised by the Australian Academy of Science’s National Committee for Nutrition and the International Life Sciences Institute SEAR Australasia aims to highlight to government the urgent need to consider strategies to alleviate vitamin D deficiency.

A large study of Australian adults found 31 per cent of the population to be vitamin D deficient. This issue is compounded by Australia having one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, making it risky to achieve sufficient safe sun exposure.

One proposed solution is to introduce increased amounts of vitamin D into the food supply by mandatory fortification of key food types, as is done in Canada with milks and margarines, and also allow vitamin D to be added to a wider range of foods.

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