Welcome to the UCC vitamin D research group 

Ireland's Northerly latitude and lengthy winters mean that we have one of the highest rates of vitamin D deficiency in the industrialized world. 

Low vitamin D status is prevalent not only among the acknowledged risk groups, such as pregnant women and elderly adults, but also among adolescents and young adults, who were previously thought to have adequate status. 

Over the past 10 years – the vitamin D research group at UCC has worked to quantify the size of the vitamin D deficiency problem in Ireland and further afield, to estimate dietary requirements for vitamin D through the lifecycle and to investigate relationships between vitamin D status and skeletal and cardio-metabolic health, immune function and cognitive performance, while continuously monitoring the vitamin D supply in the diet.