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New dietary reference values for vitamin D in the Netherlands

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 67, page 685 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

On request of the Minister of Public Health, the Health Council of the Netherlands evaluated its dietary reference values for vitamin D last year.1 The Council also mapped the consequences of the new dietary reference values for the 2008 recommendations on supplementation2 reported in European Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2009.3

The current advisory report emphasizes that the production of vitamin D in the skin, given sufficient exposure to sunlight, is the most important source of vitamin D in the Netherlands, certainly among light-skinned people. Less vitamin D is produced in case of insufficient exposure to sunlight or darker skin. This lower production may not be compensated fully by a healthy diet and therefore supplementation may be required.

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References

  1. Health Council of the Netherlands. Evaluation of Dietary Reference Values for Vitamin D. Health Council of the Netherlands: The Hague, 2012, publication no. 2012/15E.

  2. Health Council of the Netherlands. Towards an Adequate Intake of Vitamin D. Health Council of the Netherlands: The Hague, 2008, publication no. 2008/15E.

  3. Weggemans RM, Schaafsma G, Kromhout D . Towards an adequate intake of vitamin D: an advisory report of the Health Council of the Netherlands. Eur J Clin Nutr 2009; 63: 1455–1457.

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Acknowledgements

All authors contributed substantially to the realization of the advisory report and the letter arising from it. RMW wrote the letter and CvW and DK provided valuable input. The advisory report has been drafted by a committee of the Health Council of the Netherlands. CvW was chairman and RMW was scientific secretary.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Committee on Dietary Reference Values for Vitamin D of the Health Council of the Netherlands, The Hague, The Netherlands

    R M Weggemans & C van Weel

  2. The Health Council of the Netherlands, The Hague, The Netherlands

    D Kromhout

  3. Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    C van Weel

  4. Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    C van Weel

Authors
  1. R M Weggemans
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  2. D Kromhout
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  3. C van Weel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to R M Weggemans.

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Competing interests

None declared by RMW and DK. The Health Council of the Netherlands reimbursed travel costs of CvW for the committee meetings for this advisory report and paid Radboud University a fee for his presence at the meetings.

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Weggemans, R., Kromhout, D. & van Weel, C. New dietary reference values for vitamin D in the Netherlands. Eur J Clin Nutr 67, 685 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2013.55

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2013.55

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