IS sunshine a political issue for Scots? Perhaps it should be as yet another medical study suggests Vitamin D deficiency might help explain Scotland’s enduring status as the “sick man and woman of Europe”. According to a new study by McGill University in Canada, people genetically prone to low vitamin-D levels have an increased risk of MS. And the place with one of the highest rates of MS in the world also has some of its cloudiest weather – Scotland.

For years campaigners have argued the Scottish Government should follow the example of other countries and recommend vitamin D supplementation as evidence about the importance of our missing sunshine vitamin mounts up. Researchers at Edinburgh University say the number of children diagnosed with bowel disease in Scotland has risen by 75 per cent in a decade. Study leader Professor David Wilson thinks the rapid rise could be due to poor diet and low vitamin D levels.

According to a 2010 study, patients on the highest levels of vitamin D supplementation had a 40 per cent lower risk of colorectal cancer than those on the lowest. Academics from Johns Hopkins University say: “Adequate levels of vitamin D reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer and may help suppress the growth and spread of prostate cancer cells in men who already have it.” A randomised American trial found vitamin D supplementation produced an 83 per cent reduction in asthma attacks. Meanwhile, vitamin D has been found to work more like a vital hormone than a vitamin – regulating the immune system, DNA repair and insulin production. There is a vitamin D receptor in every organ of the body. In short, vitamin D isn’t an optional extra – it’s vital for health.

Still Scottish health chiefs have opted to wait for the London-based Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) to decide if medical advice for the whole UK needs to change. Finally SACN issued new draft advice earlier this month, acknowledging at last that most Britons cannot make enough Vitamin D from sunlight on their skin and suggesting everyone should take a daily 10 microgram pill from the age of one. The plans are now being consulted on until September 23 and it looks like change is on the way.

So that’s fine then, isn’t it?

Not for Scottish vitamin D campaigners.

Official advice applies to the whole of the UK and doesn’t focus on the acute problems of Scotland where our cloudy summer climate means folk struggle to absorb enough vitamin D from sunlight and even those who eat loads of oily fish are probably still deficient. The tendency to coat children in sunscreen the minute they step into the sun further lowers absorption rates, especially amongst ethnic communities because the darker the complexion, the more sun is needed to generate healthy vitamin D levels. Now Scotland has rising numbers of children with rickets – the clearest symptom of severe vitamin D deficiency.

In 2010, Professor Faisal Ahmed of Yorkhill Sick Kids Hospital reported 160 children had been admitted with symptoms of vitamin D deficiency between 2002 and 2008 – 40 per cent had bowed legs, 19 had suffered seizures, 11 had fractured bones and 13 had limb pain. Almost all the children were of Asian, African or Middle Eastern origin. Professor Ahmed noted the true incidence of the condition was probably higher.

The wider population is also at risk. An Edinburgh University survey published in 2011, found 84 per cent of Scots sampled were vitamin D-deficient using the “adequate level” accepted by the World Health Organisation.

Dr Helga Rhein, a GP in Edinburgh’s Sighthill area, has been single-handedly prescribing vitamin D for years since blood tests proved 70 per cent of her patients – some of Scotland’s poorest, sickest people – are severely deficient. Now she wants Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer to recommend that Scottish GPs in deprived areas prescribe year-round vitamin D supplementation immediately.

She says: “A Food Standards Agency report published two years ago showed 47 per cent of people in deprived areas have levels of vitamin D in the blood that are well below adequacy. SACN’s report makes no north-south distinction and recommends the same dose for everyone whether they are a veiled woman in the north or a sun lover in south. A daily dose of 10 microgrammes for everyone in Britain is nonsense.”

The vitamin is cheap to produce, and delivers massive savings to the health budget. Dr William B Grant has estimated that if all Canadians took vitamin D supplements 37,000 lives would have been saved in 2010, saving Canadian public services an estimated £6.93bn.

So what is the Scottish Government waiting for?

It’s time to act on our vitamin D deficiency now.