How Much Vitamin D do you need?
The amount of vitamin D you need each day depends on your age. Average daily recommended amounts from the Food and Nutrition Board (a national group of experts) for different ages are listed below in International Units (IU):
| Life Stage | Recommended Amount |
|---|---|
| Birth to 12 months | 400 IU |
| Children 1–13 years | 600 IU |
| Teens 14–18 years | 600 IU |
| Adults 19–70 years | 600 IU |
| Adults 71 years and older | 800 IU |
| Pregnant and breastfeeding women | 600 IU |
How Do You Get Vitamin D From Foods?
Vitamin D is only in a few foods and often in very small amounts. Foods that provide vitamin D include:
- Fatty fish, like tuna, mackerel, and salmon
- Foods fortified with vitamin D, like some dairy products, orange juice, soy milk, and cereals
- Beef liver (a little)
- Cheese (a little)
- Egg yolks (a little)
- Mushrooms provide some vitamin D. In some mushrooms that are newly available in stores, the vitamin D content is being boosted by exposing these mushrooms to ultraviolet light.
- Almost all of the U.S. milk supply is fortified with 400 IU of vitamin D per quart. (Except milk you get from the farm, like our raw goat milk!) But foods made from milk, like cheese and ice cream, are usually not fortified.Vitamin D is added to many breakfast cereals and to some brands of orange juice, yogurt, margarine, and soy beverages; check the labels.
Getting enough vitamin D from your diet isn't easy. Studies show that typically only about 20% of our vitamin D comes from the foods we eat.
Get Enough Sunlight
Your body can make vitamin D on its own. When you walk out into the sunlight with exposed skin, your body naturally produces vitamin D. Just 10-15 minutes a day, like a nice walk around your property, should be enough. Please don't overdue it; you don't want skin cancer. If you will be outside more than a few minutes, wear a long sleeved shirt and sunscreen with an SPF of more than 8.
Dark skin, cloudy days, shade, and sunshine indoors through a window will not produce Vit D in your body.
Special Cases
My son is autistic with epilepsy. Because of his health problems, his epilepsy doctor (epileptologist) recommended he take 1,000 IUs of Vit D each day. This helps to bump up his immune system.
Since I have an autoimmune disease, I also increased my Vit D to 1,000 IUs.
We take a little liquid gell supplement to make sure we get at least 1,000. Then 10-15 minutes outside doing farm chores gets more Vit D into us.
Does it help? With our immune system?
Well, neither one of us have had the flu this year. WITHOUT the flu shot, which we avoid like the plague.
Your call.
Dark skin, cloudy days, shade, and sunshine indoors through a window will not produce Vit D in your body.
Special Cases
My son is autistic with epilepsy. Because of his health problems, his epilepsy doctor (epileptologist) recommended he take 1,000 IUs of Vit D each day. This helps to bump up his immune system.
Since I have an autoimmune disease, I also increased my Vit D to 1,000 IUs.
We take a little liquid gell supplement to make sure we get at least 1,000. Then 10-15 minutes outside doing farm chores gets more Vit D into us.
Does it help? With our immune system?
Well, neither one of us have had the flu this year. WITHOUT the flu shot, which we avoid like the plague.
Your call.
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