How to Obtain Enough Vitamin D from Your Daily Diet through Nutrition Optimization

By Herbert Zeng, Ph.D.

New studies on vitamin D and dietary intake published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) indicated that only one-third of Americans get enough vitamin D.

As you know, vitamin D increases the absorption of calcium and phosphorus in the intestine, and maintains a homeostasis of calcium and phosphorus. Also, a latest research found that vitamin D plays a role in innate immunity. Vitamin D deficiencies are associated with the following symptoms: rickets in children, osteomalacia in adults, osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and the elderly, and women's difficulties in giving birth. So, enough vitamin D intakes are very important for our optimum health.

What amount of vitamin D do you daily require? The National Academy of Sciences recommends: 5 mcg (200 IU) for ages of 19 to 50, 10 mcg (400IU) for ages of 51 to 70, and 15 mcg (600IU) for over 71 years old.

Some foods contain rich vitamin D. In the 379 selected foods of the newly published book "Nutrition Optimization for Health and Longevity", ten foods containing the richest vitamin D per 100 grams are listed as follows:

1.      Raw herring fish, Atlantic                              40.7 mcg

2.      Sardine fish, Pacific, canned in tomato sauce               12.0 mcg

3.      Raw mackerel fish, Atlantic                             9.0 mcg

4.      Raw herring fish, Pacific                                7.9 mcg

5.      Dry whole milk                                       7.8 mcg

6.      Malt-O-Meal, High Fiber Bran Flakes, read-to-eat cereals     6.2 mcg

7.      Raw crustaceans shrimp                                3.8 mcg

8.      Single brand, corn & oat flour, ready-to-eat cereals           3.5 mcg

9.      Single brand, bran flakes, ready-to-eat cereals               3.3 mcg

10.  Raw fresh egg yolk                                    2.7 mcg

How do you obtain enough vitamin D from your diet? According to an easy-to-follow method introduced in the book "Nutrition Optimization for Health and Longevity", anyone is able to get enough vitamin D from his/her daily diet, while at the same time satisfying his/her energy and other nutrient requirements. For example, a 40-year-old woman with a weight of 59 kg and a height of 1.65 m at a sedentary activity level can obtain a menu to meet her daily vitamin D, energy and other nutrients requirements. By optimizing the nutrition of her daily foods, an optimized menu would look as follows:

1 medium raw egg  100g

2 slices wheat bread  50 g

1 glass 1% milk with added vitamin A  244 g

Atlantic farmed raw salmon  50 g

Raw kale  100g

1 medium apple with skin  150 g

Dried sunflower seeds  25 g

1 medium raw red tomato  100 g

Raw broccoli raab  100 g

Corn oil  10 g

1 medium raw banana  150 g

In this menu, the total amount of vitamin D is 6.5 mcg, which satisfies her daily minimum requirement (5mcg). Also, the energy (1692 kcal) and other 49 nutrients meet her daily needs. The cost of the foods in the menu is about three U.S. dollars.

Therefore, as long as we learn to optimize the nutrition of the daily foods we eat in terms of the step-by-step procedure presented in the book "Nutrition Optimization for Health and Longevity", it will not only help us save money, but will also help us improve our health and prolong our longevity.

References

1.      Jaspreet KC Ahuja et al., Intakes and source of vitamin D in the US population, The FASEB Journal, 2010, 917.6 (online).

2.      Herbert Zeng, Nutrition optimization for health and longevity, iUniverse, 2010.

3.      A.A. Ginde, et al., Association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and upper respiratory tract infection in the third national health and nutrition examination survey, Arch. Intern. Med., 2009, 169(4), 384-390.

4.      Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board, Dietary reference intakes for calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin D, and fluoride, Washington DC, 2002/2005, The National Academies Press.