In a latest study, experts have revealed that a diet high in fatty fish coupled with thirty minutes of exposure to sun twice a week was the key to a healthy life and greatly reduces the risk of developing diabetes.
The study results were published in the journal Maturitas after analysing over 100,000 patients in the past twenty years and after assessing the vitamin D levels among the middle-aged and elderly. A combination of proper diet and Vitamin D was found to reduce the risk of developing heart disease or diabetes by 43 per cent.
Researchers at the University of Warwick conducted systematic literature review of 28 studies that were published between 1990 and 2009, with the majority appearing between 2004 and 2009. One of the authors, Dr Johanna Parker, who is currently working in a Birmingham GP practice, said: “The research we conducted looked at naturally-occurring vitamin D rather than supplements. We recommend people eat a healthy diet with two to three portions of oily fish a week and five portions of fruit and vegetables. Most – 90% – of your vitamin D comes from sunshine so we recommend sensible sun exposure in the summer. People should expose themselves for 30 minutes twice a week – this means exposing the face and arms with no sunscreen. This would provide the body with adequate vitamin D.”