There are three ways you can get vitamin D: the sun, food, and supplements. We’ve already covered why sunlight is a finicky source of D, so let’s talk about food for a moment here.
In a previous mbg article, integrative dietitian Whitney Crouch, RDN, CLT, shared why food is an equally unreliable source of the sunshine vitamin: “Vitamin D is found in very few foods—and the foods that it is found in do not have amounts that will move the needle much in terms of total amount humans need for health.”
In fact, nutrition scientist Ashley Jordan Ferira, Ph.D., RDN, previously shared a detailed list of natural and fortified food sources of vitamin D and the amounts you would actually need to move that needle. She explains, “You can’t eat your way to daily vitamin D sufficiency. I mean, you could…but you wouldn’t want to, and it might break the bank. How about 50 glasses of milk?” (That daily milk quota isn’t going to work for most.)
Even if you’re eating foods with the highest amounts of vitamin D (e.g., trout, salmon, and UV-irradiated mushrooms), they still don’t provide the amount of vitamin D required to achieve and sustain healthy vitamin D status.
The final solution? A high-quality daily vitamin D3 supplement with adequate dosage will help you achieve and maintain sufficient vitamin levels, no matter the time of year or weather forecast.*
That said, not all D supplements are created equal—consider prioritizing a premium quality, high-potency D3 with a healthy fat source to promote optimal absorption.* For 5,000 IU of plant-sourced D3 and a built-in trio of organic oils (i.e., avocado, flax, and olive), mbg’s vitamin D3 potency+ has you covered.
