Bread
IN PHOTO: Croissants of Swiss bakery products company Hiestand are ready to be served during a news conference of Hiestand in Zurich, October 10, 2006. Hiestand announced that it had acquired 100 percent ownership of German bakery products company Fricopan. Reuters/Sebastian Derungs

UK multinational retailer Marks & Spencer has added vitamin D to its bread, reports say. The announcement was made after surveys revealed that customers expressed their concern over not getting the right amounts of vitamins.

The move to add vitamin D in bread helps tackle the problem of vitamin D deficiency in children, which leads to rickets. British children these days tend to stay indoors most of the time playing with their gadgets. As a result, they tend to get less exposure to sunshine, an important source of vitamin D that helps in proper bone development, Mirror reports.

Sources say that from now on, every bread roll and loaf of bread sold in Marks&Spencer bakery will contain yeast that naturally produces vitamin D. The bread will become a source of 15 percent of vitamin D daily requirements for every two slices.

According to The Telegraph report, Claire Hughes, M&S head of nutrition, said that the company understands how important vitamin D is for good health. “We want to make it as easy as possible for our customers to increase their intake. By adding it to something as simple as bread it means customers don’t have to change their usual diet to get an additional top up of this vital vitamin,” she said.

Health experts have seen a rise in rickets in UK based children that has become a cause for concern and this is due to vitamin D deficiency. Previous studies have also shown the link between low vitamin D levels and dementia risk. Safe sun exposure can be a good source of vitamin D, according to National Osteoporosis Society chief executive Claire Severgnini, but topping up the levels with diet also helps.

However, a professor emeritus at Nottingham University, Chris Coulton, said he was not convinced by M&S’ move to fight rickets and wasn’t sure if it’s “the best solution”. According to him, educating people about the deficiency is the answer; he said that it helps to “encourage certain cultures to allow young people to be exposed in more sunlight, to encourage them out to play, and not to wear all-encompassing clothes.”

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