Vitamin D Benefits and Vitamin D Sources

If you are interested in finding out the benefits of vitamin D and also what the best sources of vitamin D are then you have come to the right place. This page is all about vitamin D benefits and also vitamin D sources and it is designed to provide you with all of the basics that you will need to know if you are somebody that is interested in getting more of this essential vitamin on a regular basis. Want to know 'how much vitamin D I should take?', well don't worry we answer that for you too!

We have a section that tells you what the main food sources of vitamin D are but for a full and comprehensive vitamin D foods list please see our dedicated page.

In addition to providing information on the benefits and sources of vitamin D we also have pages with the same information on all of the other essential vitamins and minerals on this site as well as lists of the foods that they can be found in. So if you are looking for ways to eat healthy and to get more of these vitamins and minerals please take the time to look around the site.

What is vitamin D?

Before we go on to tell you all about vitamin D sources and vitamin D benefits we are going to explain what vitamin D actually is. Vitamin D is one of the essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs in order to function effectively. Every vitamin and mineral has a different role to play in the upkeep of the human body and it is no different with vitamin D.

The benefits of vitamin D

Vitamin D is one of the many essential nutrients that your body needs. Here we highlight what the main benefits of vitamin D are:

• Vitamin D helps to produce strong bones - Vitamin D regulates the calcium in our blood and therefore is vital for producing strong and healthy bones. Being such an important aid to our skeletal system is one of the key things that vitamin D is renowned for.
• As well as ensuring that the body absorbs and stores calcium it also does the same for phosphorus, another important nutrient needed to ensure we have a strong skeletal system.
• Studies have shown that vitamin D can reduce the growth of cancer cells
• Vitamin D can help with muscle strength
• Vitamin D aids the immune system in battling off infections
• Studies have shown that vitamin D helps to regulate blood pressure and strengthen the heart

As you can see there are many vitamin D benefits so do not let yourself lack in what is a vital nutrient for your body.

The sources of vitamin D

As with almost all of the essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs, the best sources of vitamin D are natural food sources. Vitamin D is different in that it is synthesized (creates a chemical reaction to produce it) when your skin is exposed to sunlight. This is obviously the easiest and most natural way to ensure that your body is not vitamin D deficient as you only need to be outside for a short time each day. However, many people, due to staying indoor and living in places where there is not much sunlight, or weak sunlight, do not get this and therefore they can end up lacking in vitamin D. This is where other vitamin D sources are essential and beside the vitamin D food sources that we go on to discuss in greater deal further on down the page, it is also possible to get the vitamin D that your body needs through vitamin D supplements.

As with many of the other other essential vitamins and minerals people generally think that it is generally a choice between food sources of vitamin D or supplements, but it should not be viewed in this way. With vitamin D being unique in that it can be synthesized by sunlight on the skin, this should be seen as a bonus so don't take for granted that a short time in the sun is all that you need to do. Mixing your sources of vitamin D up with both food and supplements is going to mean that you are almost certainly going to get all of the vitamin D that you need and there is no chance that your body will be left lacking.

To be clear here are the three main sources of vitamin D :

• Vitamin D food sources - More information below and on our vitamin D foods list page
• Regular exposure to sunlight
• Vitamin D supplements - Available on their own or as part of a multi-supplement, these can be purchased for a very reasonable price online or at your local supermarket and pharmacy

A mixture of these three vitamin D sources are certainly going to get you all of the vitamin D that you need so that your body will be able to make the most of vitamin D benefits that this vital nutrient brings.

Main vitamin D food sources

In the above section we have highlighted what the main sources of vitamin D are but here we are going to elaborate on the main vitamin D sources. If you want to see a full list of foods that contain vitamin D then please check out our vitamin D foods list page where we go into much more detail on the subject.

It is almost always better to get vitamins and minerals into your body through natural food sources as opposed to through supplements only. This does carry the added benefit that many foods have a multitude of nutrients in them so by eating one food for one vitamin or mineral you also get the benefit of being able to absorb many more at the same time. Not to mention of course that most of the foods that you can eat in order to get these nutrients are all good for you so why wouldn't you want to eat them?

Here are the main vitamin D food sources:

• Fortified milk - In the USA milk is fortified with 10 micrograms of vitamin D per quart (32 fl oz)
  
• Fish oils
• Fatty fish
• Cream
• Orange juice
• Cheese
• Fortified cereal
• Eggs

We hope that this section has been useful in pointing out the main food sources of vitamin D. Now that you know what these are and what the other main vitamin D sources are it is going to be useful to have the question 'how much vitamin D should I take?', answered.

How much vitamin D should I take a day?

In the final section on this page we are going to provide the answer to a common question and that is 'how much vitamin D should I take?', after all we have mentioned everything on this page to do with vitamin D bar this!

Depending on what you read on the internet you will see a variation to the recommended daily amount of vitamin D that your body needs.

Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for Vitamin D

International Units (IUs) and micrograms (mcg)

Depending on how much sunlight you actually get and how much vitamin D this allows you to create does make it difficult to answer the question 'how much vitamin D should I take a day?'. If you stick to the daily recommended guideline through vitamin D foods and vitamin D supplements then you cannot go wrong, considering that some scientists actually claim we should be consuming some 2000 IU a day. It is possible for too much vitamin D to be toxic but that would involve consuming much higher levels each day than the figures stated above.

More than vitamin D benefits and vitamin D sources

We really hope that this page has been useful in informing you about the main vitamin D benefits are and also what the best sources of vitamin D are. We can't stress enough how important it is for you to not only consume vitamin D regularly, but also the other essential vitamins and minerals that we have mentioned on this website. If you want to find out more on vitamin D then why not check out our vitamin D foods list page as this will help to show you exactly what you should be eating in order to get a sufficient amount of vitamin D inside on board for your body to absorb. Please also have a look around at the similar pages that we have to this one on the benefits of vitamin D they are all as simple and easy to understand.