Foods with Vitamin D: 9 Best Foods Rich in Vitamin D

What is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D is otherwise known as the sunshine vitamin. Most of your daily vitamin D is absorbed through your skin in a reaction that occurs, resulting in the production of vitamin D.

Vitamin D is a prohormone, that essentially means it is the starting hormone to make many of the other hormones that are essential for your daily functions.

It is a vitamin because it is a molecule that is essential to life.

Vitamin D goes by the name of Cholecalciferol, a fat-soluble vitamin produced from cholesterol. Once made in the skin from UV or absorbed from your dietary intake of food rich in vitamin D, the body can store vitamin D and other molecules, like vitamin A, in your fat tissue.

Vitamin D is first metabolised in the liver and kidneys.

When you exercise or burn fat tissue you release vitamin D into your blood.

This emphasises a need for healthy dietary fats to be eaten with vitamin D in your diet, to absorb and retain vitamin D.

If you are supplementing with vitamin D you should also do so while eating a meal that contains some fats.

Why Do I Need Foods Containing Vitamin D?

Hormones and Vitamin D

You need vitamin D to make or regulate the production of many major hormones including testosterone, oestrogen, parathyroid hormones and insulin.

It shares many of the effects of the sex hormone progesterone, the pre-form of testosterone and oestrogen and is classed as a steroid hormone.

Vitamin D also plays a function in regulating the amounts of melatonin and serotonin hormones in the body. You can find our article covering our top 10 melatonin rich foods here.

Vitamin D is necessary for the regulation and formation of androgen hormones, testosterone and oestrogen, the combination of which determine many of our overall sexual characteristics.

This includes muscle size and hip-to-waist ratio in women. Pregnancy is quite difficult and can get complex for women, emphasising the importance of a strong hip-to-waist ratio.

Insulin is regulated by vitamin D. Insulin is how your body can access sugar properly and is vital for your survival. Other hormones like melatonin, important for healthy sleep, are regulated by vitamin D.

While you might think you can just absorb vitamin D through sunlight, the facts are that most people worldwide are deficient in vitamin D.

Calcium and Vitamin D

We need so much vitamin D because it’s essential in our day-to-day lives including normal nerve cell communication, calcium intake for maintenance of bone mass, enhancing the immune system and healthy cell death to prevent cancers.

The core function of vitamin D is to help push calcium into the body. In our evolutionary history this is a highly conserved and ancestral process. Your bone calcium density is not fixed.

Calcium influx and absorption allowed our fish ancestors to do all sorts of interesting things from protecting core organs, killing prey and allowing us to leave the ocean. Of course, leaving the oceans meant a flurry of new possibilities and evolution of new animal species.

Deficiencies in vitamin D can result in diseases such as rickets or osteoporosis, where the body is not getting enough calcium. This causes bone weakness or deformities.

Immunity and Vitamin D

Your bone mass influences the amounts of white blood cells there are in the body which encourages healthy immunity. The numbers of T-killer white blood cells upregulated by vitamin D consumption.

T-killer cells are important in the natural cell death of potentially cancer-causing cells that have gone wrong, as well as identifying pathogenic cells that need to be destroyed.

There is growing evidence that vitamin D could also help with the prevention of depression escalation and supplementation has proven to be quite effective.

We’ve written an article on vitamin D and depression which you can find here.

Let’s talk about the best foods for vitamin D.

9 Best Foods with Vitamin D

When trying to increase your dietary intake of vitamin D it is important to remember that vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin.

This means you should be consuming more fats with your diet than usual.

Remember that eating excess fat can lead to weight gain however, healthy levels of dietary fats are essential to normal bodily functioning.

You should also consider increasing your dietary calcium levels to go with the added dietary for the full benefits.

Liver

Liver, especially beef or duck, is one of the richest food sources of vitamin D.

It is not the tastiest part of the animal to eat, however this is one of the richest foods with vitamin D you can eat. This is because the liver is where a lot of vitamin D is processed.

Liver can be available in a form of beef or chicken liver and forms a nice pate too. We strongly suggest trying liver and onion pie if you want to add more foods with vitamin D into your diet.

Liver is usually quite cheap as it is not a popular cut of the animal to buy from the butchers.

Liver is highly nutrient dense and makes up for a lot of nutrients that people are deficient in, including vitamin A and D.

We love nutrient dense foods here and liver is just that. Per 100 gram portion of chicken liver there is a whopping 222% of your RDA of vitamin A, another fat soluble vitamin. Beef liver is said to contain more vitamin A than this, at 731% of your RDA.

That is incredible for such a small amount of food. For emphasis, it contains 691% RDA of vitamin B12 per 100g, is packed with copper, phosphorus and other minerals too.

Beef liver contains an astounding 55 IU of Vitamin D, or 9% of your RDA, per 120g of liver. With beef liver you have all of your major fat-soluble vitamins in one package.

Chicken Liver

The vitamin D RDA values in chicken liver have not been fully verified. They do contain vitamin D but not as high as with beef liver.

Based on beef liver and existing studies, we estimate that this is about 6 IU of vitamin D per 120g of chicken liver. This estimate would be on the lower end of the spectrum.

The vitamin D levels are likely lower than in beef liver as chickens have a lower or low bone density in certain growing environments.

100g of chicken liver supplies 29.5% of protein and 3.2% fat. The fat content makes liver a synergistic partner for vitamin D uptake.

Kidney

Steak and kidney pie is a hearty meal appreciated by most food lovers. Beef kidney contains 45IU of vitamin D per 100g of kidney meat.

Also rich in other nutrients, the kidneys represent another cut of meat that is nutrient dense. Steak and kidney pie is a great family meal for those on a budget wanting to add more foods rich in vitamin D into their diet.

Cod Liver Oil

Traditionally used as a vitamin D and an omega 3 oils supplement, cod liver oil contains one of the highest concentrations of vitamin D of all foods.

Cod liver oil, as a food, contains 10,000 IU of vitamin D as measured by an independent study. As a supplement this might vary.

Cod liver oil is fairly cheap and easy to obtain that makes a really quick way of accessing higher amount the vitamin D that rivals some food supplements.

Fish

Fish are extremely popular as a food for vitamin D. Sardines contain one of the highest levels of vitamin D of all fish. Sardines contain a massive 200 IU vitamin D per 100 grams or 24% NRV.

Salmon are also quite rich in vitamin D and healthy fats such as omega 3. Omega 3 contributes to normal vitamin D absorption, so is synergistic with Vitamin D uptake.

Depending on the variety of salmon and if they are grown or caught, they contain around 526 IU of Vitamin D per 100 or 66% of your RDA.

Mushrooms

Various mushrooms such as white button or chestnut mushrooms contain large amounts of vitamin D. Portobello mushrooms contain 12IU of vitamin D per 100g.

Mushrooms are great to add to pretty much any cream or tomato-based sauce recipe and can taste bland on their own, unless mixed with herbs and garlic.

As a non animal source of vitamin D this seems like a good option if your are looking for foods with vitamin D to add to your diet.

They aren’t exactly a vitamin D powerhouse like liver but provide a regular dose of dietary vitamin D.

Cereals Fortified With Vitamin D

While this doesn’t strictly count as a food naturally high in vitamin D, fortified breakfast cereals like cornflakes are fairly high in vitamin D.

Easy to integrate as a breakfast with some yoghurt, this does make quite a good start to the day. Fortified cereals contain at the highest, around 344 IU of vitamin D per 100 grams.

Eggs

Eggs are also fairly rich in vitamin D. While not as high as beef or chicken liver they do contain a substantial amount of vitamin D. An organic egg from a chicken provides 44 IU of vitamin D.

They are also a source of cholesterol and healthy fats, which all contribute to normal vitamin D production or absorption.

Red Meats

A typical beef steak contains around 60IU of vitamin D per 100 grams of red meat.

Steak is quite an easy to make and rich vitamin D food. Moreover it contains healthy dietary fats and other nutrients.  On the downside, beef steaks can be quite expensive.

Cheese

Cheese is cost effective as a vitamin D containing food and readily available in the shops.

We recommend cheese is eaten in moderation as it is very high in fat. In 100g of most regular cheeses, there is 24IU of vitamin D.

This food rich with vitamin D is so easy to add to most recipes or dishes.

Conclusion

We’ve shown how important vitamin D is to our health and well-being. From maintaining calcium levels in the bones, ensuring the survival of our ancestors against predators, helping with immunity, regulating levels of hormones and sugar intake.

 Is quite clear that finding foods that are rich in vitamin D is not so easy.

This is clearly one reason why there are so many people deficient in vitamin D worldwide, even in hot countries.

In our 9 foods listed here, the top vitamin D foods are fish such as salmon, sardines and cod liver. Beef liver is also a strong candidate for top foods containing vitamin D. Considering nutrient density, we would recommend liver and sardines.

All of these foods can form a base for many different recipes.

For more interesting articles, navigate to the main articles page below.

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Vitamin D and Depression

Am I Getting Enough Vitamin D?

Vitamin D and depression are being linked by lots of new studies in the field of depression. Studies show you probably aren’t getting enough vitamin D, with most people being very heavily deficient in vitamin D. In some cases deficiencies seem to be higher in women than in men.

This is quite alarming, as the production of most of our hormones relies on good levels of vitamin D. Reduced vitamin D levels would mean reduced levels of some major hormones in the body.

Specifically, the production of the hormones melatonin and serotonin are dependent on vitamin D levels.

These two hormones have been linked to depression for a while and that is no surprise at all.

How exactly vitamin D fits into brain functioning is still being characterized, but there is a lot of excitement in the field of depression studies around vitamin D.

What is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin when consumed through our diets. It is known as cholecalciferol and its main function in the body is to increase body calcium levels.

There are two major ways to obtain vitamin D, sunlight and through your food.

Vitamin D can be made in your skin, yes that is right your skin, in high sunlight conditions. However, with modern work patterns and lifestyles most people spend much of the day indoors, out of the sun.

We make vitamin D in the skin from a cholesterol precursor. Vitamin D is known as a pro-hormone, being able to make many body hormones, and also has antioxidant abilities.

Most of your vitamin D is produced in the skin, however in some countries they don’t even get that much sunlight. They are completely reliant on their diet to obtain enough vitamin D.

These populations need to eat more foods rich in vitamin D, including certain mushrooms, liver, fish and eggs, to satisfy their vitamin D requirements. Most foods do not contain adequate vitamin D to meet our daily requirements.

Alarmingly, there are also high levels of vitamin D deficiency in sunny countries too. This is why vitamin D is becoming a focus in the healthy lifestyle community.

How Do My Vitamin D Levels Influence Depression?

Serotonin and Melatonin

Vitamin D is thought to regulate the level serotonin and melatonin production.

If melatonin levels drop then so do levels of serotonin. This is because serotonin makes surplus melatonin as needed by the body.

Serotonin is a major influencer on depression as it is the happiness chemical, or hormone, in the brain. If serotonin levels drop then depression will tend to increase.

Maintaining strong overall levels of serotonin would encourage more balanced feelings.

This emphasises the importance of high levels of vitamin D to help with depression, as vitamin D is directly involved in serotonin formation from the amino acid tryptophan.

We mentioned serotonin helps to maintain normal levels of melatonin. Melatonin hormone is essential to healthy sleeping patterns and sleep abnormality is heavily linked to depression.

Research suggests that melatonin can help with depression through encouraging healthy sleep patterns.

Vitamin D can help to improve overall body levels of melatonin, through higher serotonin levels, reducing depressive symptoms.

There is also a feedback loop here if you remember from earlier. Higher melatonin levels mean that you are not having to convert excess serotonin to melatonin. This again encourages more balanced feelings.

We’ve also written an article on the top 10 melatonin rich foods to add to your diet that could help with depression too.

Vitamin D Receptors and Neurotransmitter Production

Changes in vitamin D receptors also change and impact other brain neurotransmitters, or brain chemicals, related to depression. These include noradrenaline and dopamine.

Studies have found the changes in these receptors caused by deficiencies in vitamin D could have a negative impact on depressive symptoms.

Vitamin D also activates a nerve growth hormone, neurotrophin, that helps nerves to grow.

Also, a recent development is a possible association between oxytocin and vitamin D production. Oxytocin is an excitatory hormone and might be link vitamin D and depression.

Vitamin D activates areas of the brain that regulate emotion and behaviour.

A mega review of how vitamin D affects depression has concluded that there is a risk of increased depression with vitamin D deficiency. They concluded that supplementation with vitamin D could be of benefit as a natural remedy for depression.

Another review of depression and vitamin D supplementation found that in 12 out of 13 cases where vitamin D supplements we used, symptoms of depression were reduced. In one study, they used around 50,000 IU of Vitamin D and an improvement was seen.

The benefits of vitamin D supplementation for depression seem to speak for itself. One study found that vitamin D deficiency caused a 50% increase in suicide.

Other Ways Vitamin D Influences Brain Health and Depression

Other studies have tried to explore if there are other effects of vitamin D on depression, because of its strong relationship to improve symptoms of depression.

One study argues that vitamin D helps to manage calcium intake into brain cells, reducing depression through normalising brain cell activity.

The study proposed that vitamin D has an effect on balancing the numbers of excitatory to inhibitory nerve cells. This would then influence the feelings you experience.

Nerve cells also need a calcium balance to function. Vitamin D plays a role in normal nerve cell communication too.

Vitamin D has also been proposed to have antioxidant properties in the brain which could help to improve feelings of anxiety and depression.

When your brain is developing vitamin D plays an important role in the structure and development of different brain areas.

It is thought that vitamin D plays a role in reducing neuroinflammation and activating the immune system, which plays an important role in brain functioning.

These are also contributing factors to depression and anxiety, showing again important vitamin D as to maintaining normal brain health.

Conclusion

Vitamin D plays a really important role in regulating calcium intake and producing different hormones.

Both of these functions are essential to normal brain health and reducing depression.

It is clear that there is a worldwide deficiency in vitamin D so this presents an attractive choice as a supplement. Especially considering how difficult it is to obtain adequate vitamin D from our diets and that in warmer countries there are still high levels of deficiencies.

While the exact working mechanisms need to be studied further, when you have this sort of evidence it is quite clear that vitamin D could help with depression.

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