Recommended Vitamin D Intake For Children And Adults

Vitamin D promotes the absorption of calcium, increasing the amount of calcium available in your blood. The Food and Nutrition Board developed a recommended daily allowance, or RDA, for vitamin D that represents the amount needed each day for bone health and proper calcium metabolism. RDAs for vitamin D are presented in international units, or IU, as well as micrograms. One mcg is equivalent to 40 IU.

Recommendations for Children

Babies between 0 and 12 months need 400 IU or 10mcg of vitamin D every day. From the ages of 1 to 13, children need 600 IU or 15mcg of vitamin D daily. Teenagers between 14 and 18 also need 600 IU or 15mcg of vitamin D each day.

Recommendations for Adults

Between the ages of 19 and 70, adults have the same needs as children, at 600 IU or 15mcg per day. After the age of 70, however, an adult's vitamin D needs increase to 800 IU or 20mcg per day. Older adults need more vitamin D because it increases the amount of calcium absorption and contributes to bone health.

Tolerable Upper Intake Levels

Long-term high intakes of vitamin D can lead to adverse health effects, such as increased blood calcium levels, weight loss, increased urine output and abnormal heart rhythms. Because of this, the Food and Nutrition Board sets a tolerable upper intake level, or UL, for vitamin D intake. The UL represents the highest amount of vitamin D children and adults can consume each day without experiencing any side effects.

The UL for babies 0 to 6 months is 1,000 IU or 25mcg, while the UL increases to 1,500 IU or 38mcg for babies from 7 to 12 months. The UL for toddlers between 1 and 3 years is 2,500 IU or 63mcg. Children between 4 and 8 should limit intake to less than 3,000 IU or 75mcg per day, and the UL for children and adults aged 9 and older is 4,000 IU or 100mcg.

Considerations

Your body can synthesize vitamin D with the help of sunlight. Most people meet some of their vitamin D needs through exposure to the sun. It is difficult to measure the amount of vitamin D you receive from the sun, however, because vitamin D synthesis is affected by season, time of day, smog, sunscreen and the melanin content of your skin. The recommended intake is based on vitamin D from foods only.