Vitamin D’s benefit may lie in syncing our body clocks

ARE you spending enough time in the sun? As well as keeping our bones strong, vitamin D – the hormone our skin makes when exposed to ultraviolet rays – may also help regulate our body clocks.

We all have a small group of “clock genes” which switch on and off during the day. As a result, the levels of the proteins they code for rise and fall over a 24-hour period. Enforced routines such as night shift work can play havoc with our health – increasing our risk of a stroke, for example.