Vitamin D is an essential nutrient to the human body. It offers various health benefits including the prevention of chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. There are different kinds of vitamin D. However, D2 and D3 are the most important to humans.
The primary source of Vitamin D is the sun as the UV rays from the sun can trigger the production of vitamin D in the skin. Vitamin D3 information tells the sun is the main source of this type of vitamin. However, did you know that besides the sun, there are a lot of other sources of vitamin D, too? Read on and discover vitamin D food sources that you can take advantage of.
Vitamin D in Foods
It is true that sunlight can give the body more vitamin D than foods. However, the lifestyle changes of a lot of people can often limit their exposure to the sun. This is without mentioning yet that the changes in the environment have made the sun a threat to the health of humans.
There are two kinds of vitamin D foods sources that can offer the body the much-needed vitamin D. There are foods that have natural vitamin D content and other foods that are only fortified with the nutrient. Though there is nothing wrong with fortified food sources of vitamin D, foods with natural vitamin D are still the most recommended sources of the nutrient.
Foods with Natural Vitamin D
Meat and fish products are the top picks when speaking of the vitamin D foods list. This includes fish such as catfish, salmon, herring, trout, and shellfish, cod liver oil, dairy, and eggs. For vegetarians, there are plant-based sources of vitamin D. This includes soy, tofu, and soy milk.
Foods Fortified with Vitamin D
A lot of products in the market are fortified with Vitamin D for better health of consumers. This often includes milk, cereals, orange juice, breads, pastries, crackers, and margarine. However, take note that not all these products are fortified with Vitamin D. Care to check the label to see whether or not one product has been fortified with this vitamin.
List of Foods High in Vitamin D
For those who are experiencing vitamin D deficiency symptoms, you may require higher amounts of the nutrient in your daily diet. To take in enough amounts of vitamin D, here are the high vitamin D foods that can be included in your diet:
- Shiitake and Button Mushrooms. The dried version of shiitake mushrooms is very high in vitamin D. This can be associated with the fact that mushrooms can perfectly suck up sunlight, especially when they are dried under the sun.
- Mackerel. A small portion of mackerel can give you 90 percent of the recommended daily amount.
- Sockeye Salmon. Same with mackerel, a small portion of this fish can already offer 90 percent of your daily recommended intake. However, this is true only for salmons that are caught from the wild.
- Herring. This fish is very high in vitamin D because they eat planktons, which are full of vitamin D.
- Sardines. A small tin can of sardines can give you around 70 percent of your vitamin D daily needs.
- Catfish. This contains a lot of vitamin D for the same reason as other fishes. Catfish feeds on plankton, which is full of the nutrient.
- Tuna Fish. Three ounces of tuna can give you 50 percent of the daily dietary recommendation.
- Cod liver oil. This is very rich in sunlight vitamin D. In fact, it is already known to prevent osteoporosis in adults due to its rich vitamin D content.
- Eggs. Eating one egg will give you at least 10 percent of your vitamin D daily needs.