What Foods Contain Vitamin D - Foods That Contain Vitamin D

As mentioned above, vitamin D is an important ingredient of human nutrition, which is in the form of vitamin D2 and D3. The group of vitamin D is basically made up of fat soluble prohormones. Vitamin D is required by the human body in small quantities; but, a regular intake of the foods containing vitamin D is necessary for good overall health. In reality, the consumption of the vitamin D rich foods is also not that much compulsory due to the fact that, just like the tree leaves produce carbohydrates when exposed to the sun, the human skin produces vitamin D when it is exposed to strong sunlight. The sufficient amount of sunlight is absorbed by the human skin, when a man works in the fields and spend a majority of the time outdoors. Now a days, as people have started spending more time indoors, the production of vitamin D in the human skin has reduced drastically.

Foods That Contain Vitamin D

• One of the biggest food sources of vitamin D is the oil that is derived from fish such as Cod. Most of the fish that contain a generous amount of fat prove to be a good source of vitamin D.
• The cod liver oil that is derived from the cod fish, if consumed regularly and periodically proves to be very healthy for the body, especially for the skin.
• Herring also provides a good quantity of vitamin D.
• Some fish become good sources of vitamin D, only when they are cooked. Some of the prominent examples are: Salmon, Mackerel and Eel.
• Canned Sardine and Tuna are also very good sources of vitamin D.
• Some people are always surprised to hear this, but an egg consumed every day also provide the required quantity of vitamin D in the human body.
• Cooked beef, lever and some specific types of mushrooms are also very good vitamin D food sources.
• It is also advisable that if possible, one should stand in the fresh morning sunlight for about 10 to 15 minutes every day, in order to generate natural and adequate quantities of vitamin D in the skin itself.

Deficiency of Vitamin D

There are some significant advantages of consuming vitamin D, like healthy skin, good bone density etc. However low levels of vitamin D may result into some serious health problems.

• Rickets: Rickets is a growth disorder that results due to a deficiency of vitamin D. This disorder is commonly observed in small children. Some of the symptoms of rickets are deformed and long bones, slow physical growth and deformity.
• Osteomalacia: Osteomalacia is another disorder that results from the vitamin D deficiency. The basic symptoms of this disorder are softening of the human skeleton and defective mineralization of bones.
• Osteoporosis: Osteoporosis is another disorder caused by the reduced intake of vitamin D. Osteoporosis is characterized by a severe weakening of bones and bone demineralization. People with osteoporosis are at a higher risk of unrecoverable fractures.

The importance of consumption of vitamin D is further increased as a result of the discovery as its role in cancer prevention and cancer cure. Vitamin D also helps in the recovery of patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases. One of the best ways to integrate a good amount of vitamin D is to have a fish at least once a month and stand in the morning sun for at least 10 to 15 minutes. For the vegetarians, a bowl of cereal and milk every morning is more than sufficient. Another convenient way to consume vitamin D is to have a boiled egg.