Vitamin D

First off, I apologize for not posting as much... my internship has me insanely busy. But, I will try to post when I can for my fellow nutrition keeners.

Vitamin D is a hot topic in nutrition these days. Vitamin D helps with absorption of calcium and phosphorus, and maintaining blood levels of calcium, which is important for healthy bones, teeth, and cartilage. However, recent research is indicating that vitamin D may play an even greater health role by helping to prevent against high blood pressure, cancer, and some autoimmune diseases. High doses of vitamin D are now routinely used to help reduce symptoms of MS.

There are two types of vitamin D, one's found in food, and the other is made in the body when our skin is exposed to sunlight. Both these types are then "activated" in the liver and kidneys.

Deficiency in North America is rare due to the fact that some of our dairy foods, such as milk, have vitamin D added. However, in many parts of the world (Canada included), we don't get enough sun to produce all the vitamin D we need year round.

Good food sources of vitamin D are:

• Egg yolks


• Mackerel


• Salmon


• Sardines


• Tuna


• Fortified Milk (all milk in Canada)


• SOME yogurts (check the label)

The current recommended intake for vitamin D is 200IU for adults, and 400IU for adults over 50 years of age. However, although most health professionals now agree that this amount is too small, there is a lot of disagreement over what the recommended amount should be.

Fortunately, summer is the best time of year for vitamin D, so get outside and make some!!

Share