The Recipe Doctor
From low-fat recipes to recipes designed for persons with diabetes, Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, shares recipes and advice to create healthy meals that are guaranteed to please. [Editor's note: Elaine no longer contributes to Silver Planet, but we have made her archived blog entries available as a service to our readers.]
A Daily Dose of D!
From sun and supplements
The food sources of vitamin D are considered to be less potent than the vitamin D generated by the skin, but if you aren’t in the sun often, food and supplements are basically your only vitamin D options. Food sources include salmon, sardines, cod liver oil, vitamin D–fortified products from the dairy aisle, and some types of orange juice and breakfast cereals.
Here’s a short list of some food names and numbers:
- Salmon (4 ounces baked/broiled) = 318 IU vitamin D
- Sardines (1.75 ounces canned in oil, drained) = 250 IU vitamin D
- Tuna (3 ounces) = 200 IU vitamin D
- 1% milk fortified w/vitamin D (1 cup) = 100 IU vitamin D
- Margarines fortified with D (1 tablespoon) = 60 IU vitamin D
- Yogurt (6 ounces) = about 40 IU vitamin D
- Assorted cereals fortified with D (1 cup) = about 40 IU vitamin D
- Egg yolk (1) = 20 IU vitamin D
- Cheese (1 ounces) = 12 IU vitamin D
How much vitamin D is the ideal daily dose?
New research suggests that 700 to 1,000 IU of vitamin D may be the ideal amount to prevent bone fractures. Many of the researchers I’ve interviewed lately agree that most of us need to get a daily dose of at least 1,000 IU of vitamin D. If you opt for supplements to kick in some of this, keep in mind that the supplements using the longer-lasting vitamin D3 are considered to be your best options.
What’s the recommendation for your daily dose of sunshine? Some experts suggest grabbing 10 minutes of sunlight between the hours of 10 AM and 3 PM (this may need to be longer if you have darker skin), but you might want to run this by your doctor or dermatologist just to be sure.
By Elaine Magee, MPH, RD
The Recipe Doctor Blog
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