Vitamin D and health in adults in Australia and New Zealand

To the Editor: Vitamin D currently receives considerable attention in the literature.1,2 A recent MJA Open supplement on nutrition and the vegetarian diet identified vitamin D as one of the few nutrients that may not be adequately supplied by a mainly plant-based lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet.3 Although the main source of vitamin D is from skin exposure to sunlight, this suggests particular challenges in treating people with vitamin D deficiency who adhere to a vegan or vegetarian diet. Oral vitamin D supplementation is recommended to treat moderate to severe deficiency and for people in high-risk groups.1