Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that's rarely found naturally in foods. Nonetheless, it's crucial to your health, helping your body absorb calcium and maintain healthy levels of the minerals that build bone. Taking daily supplements of vitamin D is an effective way to prevent bone-weakening diseases. The National Institutes of Health recommends intake levels to help you get enough vitamin D to maintain good health.
Recommended Daily Intake
The Food and Nutrition Board has set a recommended daily intake for vitamin D. Regardless of gender, infants younger than 12 months should get 400 IU or 10 micrograms of vitamin D each day. Everyone age 1 through 70 should be getting 600 IU or 15 micrograms of vitamin D per day. Adults older than 70 should take 800 IU or 20 micrograms per day. These recommendations are sufficient to maintain bone health and calcium metabolism in healthy people who don't get much sun exposure. If you have a medical condition, talk to your doctor about the correct dosage for your needs.
Infants
Without adequate vitamin D supplementation or sunlight exposure to prompt the body to produce its own vitamin D, babies and children may develop rickets, a bone-weakening disease. Breast milk does not provide an adequate amount of the vitamin to breast-fed infants. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants receive a supplement of 400 IU of vitamin D each day. Breast-feeding mothers should take a normal dosage of vitamin D.
When giving an infant a liquid supplement, do not exceed the recommended dosage. In 2010, the FDA announced that some liquid vitamin D supplements have large droppers, allowing parents to give their babies large doses. This can be harmful, resulting in a variety of symptoms and potentially causing kidney damage.
Adults
For healthy adults, a normal daily dose of vitamin D is adequate. However, in some cases a modified dose can help treat medical conditions. A study published in 2010 in "Annals of Internal Medicine" found that people with cardiovascular disease could potentially reduce their mortality risk by taking moderate to high doses of the vitamin. Similarly, daily intake of at least 800 IU of vitamin D helped reduce the risk of falls in older adults. Vitamin D-3 supplements, when paired with calcium supplements, helped prevent bone loss and breaks in osteoporosis sufferers. There are also indications that high doses of D can help prevent cancer, encourage weight loss and even ward off the flu.
Other Sources
Very few foods naturally contain vitamin D. It's found in fatty fish like salmon and tuna, and in small amounts in beef liver, cheese and egg yolks. Most dietary sources of vitamin D come from fortified foods like milk and breakfast cereals. The United States and Canada mandate that infant formula contain added vitamin D as well.
It is possible to meet your vitamin D needs through sun exposure. Your body naturally produces vitamin D when your skin is exposed to UV-B radiation. However, the risks of skin cancer and UV damage make excessive sun exposure dangerous. The National Institutes of Health recommends that you get your vitamin D from your diet and from vitamin supplements instead.
References
- National Institutes of Health: Office of Dietary Supplements: Vitamin D
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Breastfeeding: Vitamin D Supplementation
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Vitamin D Supplement Products: Medication Use Error; June 15 2010
- "Annals of Internal Medicine"; Systematic Review: Vitamin D and Calcium Supplementation in Prevention of Cardiovascular Events; Wang L et al.; Mar 2 2010
- MedlinePlus: Vitamin D
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