Vitamin Supplements

Recommended Daily Allowances for vitamin D are given here in both micrograms and international units. The IU is a common unit of measurement among many vitamin supplement manufacturers. Remember that people who get enough sunlight do not need additional vitamin D.

Vitamin D Optimal Daily Allowance

We recommend an optimal daily allowance of 400 IU of vitamin D per day. Fewer foods are rich in vitamin D than in other vitamins and minerals, so you may need to take a vitamin D tablet to supplement your diet.

Vitamin D Food Sources

Although some foods naturally contain vitamin D—including eggs, butter, oily fish (salmon, herring, and sardines), liver, and cod liver oil—most dietary vitamin D comes from foods that have been fortified. Cow milk, for example, is usually fortified with vitamin D and is the primary source of dietary vitamin D for children. Infant formula is also fortified with vitamin D. (Breast milk contains little D.) Other commonly fortified foods include margarine and ready-to-eat breakfast cereals.

Plants are not good sources of vitamin D. Green leafy vegetables, for example, contain only small amounts of this vitamin.

Vitamin D is a remarkably stable nutrient; little of it is lost during cooking and storage.

How Much Vitamin D Are People in the United States Getting?

Little information exists on vitamin D consumption; data that are available deal primarily with intake among children. Individuals who drink three 8 ounce glasses of milk per day get about 7.5 mcg (300 IU) of vitamin D from that source, plus small amounts from other food sources and whatever their bodies produce if exposed to the sun. Children are the biggest milk drinkers in the population.

Because adults tend to drink less milk, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports, they get much less vitamin D from fortified milk. Women average about 2.1 mcg and men about 1.5 mcg.

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