Vitamin D and Calcium

Our Vitamin D helps double your calcium

The extra vitamin D in Avonmore Super Milk, can help our bodies absorb up to twice as much calcium* from the food and drink we consume, to help your family grow healthy and strong.

Sunshine helps our bodies produce Vitamin D, also known as the 'sunshine vitamin'. However due to Ireland's northerly latitude (51-55°N) very little UV light reaches the country between October and March (6 months) resulting in very little skin production of vitamin D. As a result the vitamin D stores we make in summer have to last through winter, and it has been suggested these stores are not sufficient (1).

So we need to top up by consuming food and drinks that are a good source of vitamin D, like salmon, tuna, mackerel, fish liver oils and Avonmore Super Milk. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin D for 18 - 64 years old is a range between 0 - 10µg depending on how much sunlight you are exposed to. However 74% of adults in Ireland have an average daily intake of vitamin D that is less than half of what is recommended and a staggering 88% of primary schoolchildren don’t meet recommended vitamin D levels (2, 3).

Vitamin D is essential for good health, as it can help our bodies absorb up to twice as much calcium from the food and drink we consume to help develop strong bones.

Bones are living tissues in your body, that means that bones are constantly renewing themselves by losing old calcium and replacing it with new calcium. Bone growth is greatest in childhood and teenage years when there are growth spurts - approximately 90% of bone strength is achieved by the age of 18 years. In adulthood, we naturally begin to lose more calcium from our bones than we can replace and that means bones begin to lose strength. Therefore, the more calcium bone strength we can develop during childhood and adolescence the less likely it is that bones will become fragile and fracture in later life.

Drinking just one glass (250ml glass) of Avonmore Super Milk each day provides all the Vitamin D you need to grow healthy and strong.

As well as being important to bone health emerging science is indicating a role for vitamin D in a number of health outcomes including cardiovascular disease, immune function, diabetes and some cancers but further research is required to understand these links (4, 5).

Avonmore Super Milk - Double the Goodness.

Enjoy Super Milk as part of a healthy balanced diet.

Avonmore Whole Super milk and Low Fat Super milk

*Based on an individual with very low vitamin D levels consuming 5µg of vitamin D daily. A 250ml glass of Super Milk now contains 5µg of vitamin D.

Based on EU Recommended Daily Allowance
1. Cashman et al. Estimation of the dietary requirements for vitamin D in healthy adults. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (2008) 88 (6): 1535-1542.
2. Hill et al. Vitamin D intakes in 18–64-y-old Irish adults. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2004) 58, 1509–1517.
3. Kiely et al. Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance. (2005). National Children’s Food Survey.
4. Holick MF. Vitamin D deficiency. N Engl J Med (2007) 357 (3): 266-281.
5. Holick, MF. Sunlight and vitamin D for bone health and prevention of autoimmune diseases, cancers, and cardiovascular disease. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, (2004) 80 (suppl): 1678S-88S