Vitamin D is known as "the sunshine vitamin" because it is manufactured by the body when skin is exposed to ultraviolet light. There are only a few good food sources. These include seafood, which naturally contains vitamin D, and dairy products, dairy substitutes, breakfast cereals and juices that have been fortified with synthetic vitamin D. For children and adults up to the age of 50, including pregnant and breast-feeding women, the recommended daily requirement, or dietary reference intake (DRI) value, for vitamin D is 200 international units (IU). From age 50 to 70, the DRI is 400 IU and from age 70 on, 600 IU.
Seafood
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means in its natural form, vitamin D-3, it is found in the fatty component of foods. That's why oily, salt-water fish such as salmon, tuna, catfish, mackerel, bluefish, anchovies, herring and sardines are good sources of vitamin D. For example, 3 oz. of pickled herring contains 578 IU; a 3-oz. portion of halibut contains 510 IU; 3 oz. oysters contains 272 IU; 3 oz. canned sardines contains 231 IU; and 3 oz. light canned tuna in oil contains 200 IU vitamin D. Fish liver oils, sold as nutritional supplements in health food stores and some pharmacies, are also concentrated sources of vitamin D. One teaspoon of cod liver oil contains 450 IU vitamin D.
Dairy Products
Although a small amount of vitamin D-3 occurs naturally in cow's milk, in the United States both fresh and canned evaporated milk are fortified with a chemically identical but synthetic form of vitamin D. In most cases, 400 IU of vitamin D-3 is added per quart of milk. Vitamin D is not added to yogurt, cheeses, butter and other dairy products, so these foods are good sources of vitamin D only if they have been made with fortified milk. One cup of either fortified cow's or fortified soy or rice milk contains about 100 IU vitamin D. Pudding made with fortified milk contains 50 IU vitamin D per 1/2 cup, and yogurt made with fortified milk contains about 40 IU.
Ready-to-Eat Cereals
Fortified cold cereals contain approximately 40 to 50 IU vitamin D per serving. Cereals that are fortified with vitamin D list the value per serving on the Nutrition Facts label as a percentage, generally 25 percent. That means one serving of the cereal provides 25 percent of the DRI for people under the age of 50. Adding 1/2 cup fortified milk to a serving of cereal increases the amount of vitamin D to about 40 percent. Older people with higher DRIs need to eat a larger-size serving to get 25 percent of their daily requirement of vitamin D from a bowl of cereal with milk.
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