NPA highlights need for greater understanding of vitamin D issues

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has called for pharmacists to ensure they are properly educated on issues surrounding the prevention of vitamin D deficiencies.

According to the organisation, there has been an increase in the number of consumers asking their pharmacists for support and advice on vitamin D deficiencies due to recent media reports on the subject.

As such, it is becoming vital that pharmacies can offer the requisite level of expertise, with NPA member Altaf Vaiya recently giving a talk to more than 300 people from the south Asian community on the matter.

To date, more than 1,000 pharmacists have viewed the NPA factsheet 'Preventing Vitamin D deficiency in at-risk groups', which was developed alongside the Department of Health.

Leyla Hannbeck, head of information services at the NPA, said the factsheet highlights "safety advice which needs to be considered when advising on vitamin D supplements – for example, the presence of peanut and soya oil in certain preparations, which are potential allergens".

Earlier this year, the association held its first flu vaccination training session for consumer health professionals of the 2012 season.