The sun, not diet, is where most of your Vitamin D comes from. So even if you are eating a well balanced diet, you are unlikely to meet your vitamin D requirements.
Some people are really at risk for Vitamin D deficiency
Pregnant and breastfeeding mums
People with dark skin or those that cover their skin when going outdoors
People who spend most of their time indoors like babies, teens with too much screen time, office dwellers
People over the age of 65 - their skin has lost some of its ability to make Vitamin D.
Vitamin D deficiency, if left untreated, can result in rickets (permanent deformaties to the bones, weakened muscles and reduced growth - see pic below), fits and osteomalacia. Vitamin D may also have a role to play in making us happy, lowering blood pressure, increasing muscle strength and acting as an anti inflammatory.
Wow!! Dish me up some of that!
But we cant get enough from diet alone. Foods that will contain some Vitamin D include...
• oily fish such as salmon, sardines, pilchards, trout, herring, kippers and eel contain reasonable amounts of vitamin D
• cod liver oil contains a lot of vitamin D (don’t take
this if you are pregnant)
• egg yolk, meat, offal and milk contain small
amounts but this varies during the seasons
• margarine, some breakfast cereals, infant formula milk and some yoghurts have added or are ‘fortified’ with vitamin D
If you can't get enough sunshine (perhaps this is you during the winter brrrrrrrr), then take a supplement. 10ug/day or 400IU/day will cut it!