Vitamin D and Food

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Very few foods contain vitamin D unless it has been added during the production process. That's because your body is built to get vitamin D through your skin (from sunlight) rather than through your mouth (by food). However, once your body has enough, it doesn't matter whether you got it through your skin or through your stomach.

There are three vitamin D super foods:

• Salmon (especially wild-caught)
• Mackerel (especially wild-caught; eat up to 120g a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are low in mercury)
• Mushrooms exposed to ultraviolet light to increase vitamin D

Other food sources of vitamin D include:

• Cod liver oil (warning: cod liver oil is rich in vitamin A; too much may be bad for you)
• Tuna canned in water
• Sardines canned in oil
• Milk or yoghurt fortified with vitamin D
• Beef or calf liver
• Egg yolks
• Cheese

Moral to the story of course, is that any food choice is still going to be a secondary source of vitamin D - more of a top up, particularly in the colder, darker months. The key source is still a healthy, safe sun exposure according to your location and skin type. If this is difficult, vitamin D supplements are one of the few supplements that may also provide some real benefit to keeping your vitamin D levels where they should be.