Bottle of Super-D oil capsules, London, England, 1940-1945

Bottle of collosol Super-D oil capsules, by the Crookes Laboratories, London, 1940-1945

Vitamins cannot be manufactured by the body and have to be taken in as part of a healthy diet. A lack of vitamin D causes a condition called rickets. Rickets causes the leg bones to be underdeveloped, resulting in bent and twisted bones.

The label gives us information about the contents of the capsules but it is also marked with the words “War emergency packaging”, which helps date the object. Supplements would have been even more important during the Second World War as meat, eggs and milk were all rationed. The vitamins may have been too expensive for some people to buy.