Bottom Line: Vitamin D recommendations are increasing to 600 IU/day for 1-70 years and 800 IU/day for 71+ years. The Institute of Medicine suggests you do not need to take supplements. However, in my opinion, it is hard to get enough vitamin D from foods and many factors decrease the ability for your skin to make enough vitamin D. Therefore, I take a vitamin D supplement. Talk to your doctor before deciding to start on supplements yourself.
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Many people know that vitamin D plays an important role in calcium absorption and bone health but it has been found that vitamin D influences over 200 genes including ones that affect diabetes and immunity.
New Daily Recommendations:
- Calcium
- 9-18 yrs: 1,300 mg
- Men: 19-70 yrs 1,000 mg, 71+ yrs 1,200 mg
- Women: 19-50 yrs 1,000mg, 51+ yrs 1,200 mg
- Vitamin D
- Infants: 400 IU
- 1-70 yrs: 600 IU
- 71+ yrs: 800 IU
SOURCES:
Sunlight: Our bodies naturally produce vitamin D from sunlight. The National Institute of Health recommends approximately 15-30 minutes of sunlight between 10am-3pm at least twice a week to provide adequate vitamin D intake. Many factors can reduce the body's ability to make vitamin D including sunscreen use, heavy cloud cover, winter months, locations away from the equator, aging and obesity.
Food Sources:
- Cod liver oil (1T): 1,360 IU
- Salmon, Mackerel, Sardines (3 oz): 250 - 500 IU
- Tuna fish in oil (3 oz): 200 IU
- Fortified foods such as OJ/milk (8 oz): 100 IU
- ALL cow's milk (and most soy milk) is fortified with vitamin D even though whole milk normally is called "vitamin D milk"
Blood Test: Have your vitamin D level checked! You want your levels to be greater than 30 ng/mL. If they are low, try to consume more vitamin D containing foods or talk to your doctor about taking a soft gel capsule (not hard pill) supplement. Make sure to take the supplement with food containing fat as it is a fat-soluble vitamin and requires fat to be absorbed.
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