Why so many people in the UAE are low on vitamin D

We live in one of the sunniest countries on earth, and vitamin D deficiency here is common enough to be unremarkable. Once you see why, the fix becomes obvious, and it takes about thirty seconds a day.

The number that surprises people

A 2019 study of 12,346 adults in Abu Dhabi found that 72% of Emirati adults were vitamin D deficient. Not low. Deficient.

If you have lived here for any length of time, that probably tracks with what your doctor has told you, or what half your friends mentioned after a blood test. It gets shrugged off precisely because it is so widespread.

Why sunshine is not the same as sun exposure

Your skin makes vitamin D when UVB light reaches it. That is the entire mechanism. Sunlight through a window does not count, because glass blocks most UVB.

So consider an ordinary weekday here:

• You leave home in a car, park underground, and take a lift to an office.
• You work indoors, under air conditioning, from morning until evening.
• Midday is the one time UVB is strong enough to matter, and midday is the part of the day everyone sensibly avoids for eight months of the year.
• When you are outside you are covered, by clothing or sunscreen or both, and both are doing exactly what they should for your skin.

None of that is a mistake. The same habits that protect your skin simply happen to close off the one route your body has to make its own vitamin D. Which is exactly why getting it from your diet matters so much more here than it would somewhere colder and greyer.

What vitamin D does for you

Vitamin D is one of the best-established nutrients there is, with approved health claims behind it:

• Vitamin D contributes to the function of the immune system.
• Vitamin D contributes to the maintenance of healthy bones and teeth.
• Vitamin D contributes to the maintenance of healthy muscle function.
• Vitamin D contributes to the absorption and utilisation of calcium.

Those are the claims regulators have actually reviewed and accepted, which is a higher bar than most of what gets printed on supplement packaging. In a climate that quietly makes vitamin D harder to come by, that is a strong reason to make sure your daily routine includes a real amount of it.

The plant-based form, and why it matters

There are two forms of vitamin D in supplements. D3 (cholecalciferol) is the common one, and it is almost always extracted from lanolin, sheep’s wool, or from fish oil. D2 (ergocalciferol) is plant-derived.

Ours is D2. It is the reason Lovu can honestly call itself 100% vegan, and it is where a surprising number of products marketed as plant-based quietly fall down. If you have been buying a “vegan” supplement, it is worth turning the jar around and checking which form of vitamin D is in it.

A serving is two gummies. That is the whole routine, no powder, no capsules, nothing to swallow. Which matters more than it sounds, because the supplement that works is the one you actually keep taking.

Who tends to be most affected here

Deficiency is common across the board, but some situations stack the odds:

• Indoor office work, which is most of us, most days.
• Covered clothing, which reduces the skin area available to make vitamin D.
• Darker skin tones, where more melanin means more UVB exposure is needed for the same result.
• Cabin crew and frequent flyers, whose daylight hours are unpredictable and often spent at altitude behind glass.
• Anyone diligent with sunscreen, which is to say anyone doing the right thing for their skin.

It is a slightly absurd list, because it mostly describes sensible behaviour in a hot country. You should not have to choose between protecting your skin and getting your vitamin D. You don’t.

The easy part

You cannot do much about the climate, the commute, or the fact that the sun here is best avoided between ten and four. What you can do is make sure the vitamin D is in your day anyway.

Two gummies, next to the coffee machine, every morning. That is the entire intervention.

The full formula breakdown is on Science and Research. If you are weighing vegan against marine collagen, that comparison is here, and the wider question of whether collagen gummies actually work is answered here. If you have recently moved, why your skin changes in the UAE is worth reading too.