Vitamin D Foods. What are good dietary sources of vitamin D?

Can you eat foods that will provide enough vitamin D? Let's examine this topic.

The most common dietary sources of Vitamin D are typically animal products. Eggs are often considered a good source, as are different types of fatty fish like salmon, tuna, sardines, and rainbow trout. 

One of the only non-animal sources of Vitamin D is mushrooms. Many people are surprised to learn that mushrooms can produce Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.

What foods contain Vitamin D?Dr. Brandan Lee

0:00

Though these are some examples of dietary sources of Vitamin D, there aren't any great ones, and it's important to understand why.

As the author of this article (and a passionate Vitamin D nerd), let me use myself as a case study. I check my Vitamin D level twice to four times per year and work hard to keep myself in the optimal range of 40-60 ng/ml. I've learned that I must intake 5000 to 10,000 IU of Vitamin D daily to maintain this range.

It's nearly impossible to get enough Vitamin D intake through diet alone.

Consider the amount of Vitamin D in some of these foods and the amount I would need to meet this requirement.

• A high-quality egg will have (at best) 64 IU of Vitamin D. To intake 5000 IU daily, I would have to eat 78 eggs!

• Salmon is considered a good source of Vitamin D. A filet of wild-caught salmon could contain up to 1000 IU of Vitamin D. For someone to take 5000 to 10,000 IU, that piece of salmon is a good start, but certainly not enough. And do you know anyone who can afford to eat wild-caught salmon daily?

• A 2.6 oz packet of wild-caught tuna contains 48 IU of Vitamin D. You would have to eat 104 packets of tuna to get 5000 IU of Vitamin D!

• If mushrooms are grown in darkness or shade, they will have little to no Vitamin D. While a serving of mushrooms grown in sunlight can have as much as 2500 IU of Vitamin D, most store-bought mushrooms will not have been grown in sunlight and will not be a source of Vitamin D.

Successful Nutrition Strategy.

To be clear, we should strive to get all our nutrients from a healthy, balanced diet. For Vitamin D, the ideal scenario would be getting all we need from healthy sun exposure and healthy foods. Unfortunately, this is not a reality for many people.

In order to achieve the optimal range, the average person will need to utilize a Vitamin D supplement in addition to thoughtful sun exposure and a healthy diet.

The risk of not getting enough Vitamin D through these three mechanisms highlights the importance of Vitamin D testing. The only way to know if you're experiencing the full protective benefit of Vitamin D and receiving all its benefits is to test yourself.

Imagine for a minute that you thought eating a couple of eggs for breakfast, having salmon once a week, going for a walk several mornings a week, and taking a 1000 IU Vitamin D supplement would provide enough Vitamin D, only to take a blood test and discover that you were dangerously low. Wouldn't you be so disappointed to find out that while you thought you were protected, you weren't?

This exact scenario describes hundreds of millions of Americans. Does it represent you? The only way to know if your lifestyle is getting you enough Vitamin D to protect you adequately is to get tested.