Vitamin D is an essential nutrient, and recent research has suggested that it may also help protect against severe COVID-19.
But how much is enough and how hard is it to get the right amount of vitamin D?
“We know that a large percentage of the population has suboptimal levels of vitamin D. In fact, up to half of the U.S. population may be deficient in vitamin D,” said Kristin Gustashaw, a clinical dietitian at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “This can lead to symptoms, including fatigue, tiredness, hair loss, delayed wound healing, decreased immune health, muscle aches and more, with no other known causes.
“Part of the difficulty in maintaining vitamin D levels is due to the fact that there is not a wide variety of foods that contain a lot of vitamin D,” Gustashaw added in a press release from the medical center.
The vitamin is accessible to people through some foods, supplements and even the sun.
Food sources include egg yolks, milk, cheese, beef or veal liver and certain fish, such as salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardines. Other foods are enriched with vitamin D, including certain cereals, bread, soy milk and orange juice.
Gustashaw also recommends that people go out in the sun for at least 15 to 30 minutes a day, but says they should be sure they get a steady source of nutrients from their diet and supplement them.
Adults should receive at least 600 IU of vitamin D every day and 800 IU if they are over 70 years old. Children should receive 600 IU each day. And infants up to the age of 12 months should receive 400 IU / day. Gustashaw says you can determine your vitamin D level by a blood test.
If you have low vitamin D levels, it’s always best to talk to your healthcare provider or dietitian about the best way to increase your intake, Rush University experts said.
Certain medicines can affect the absorption of vitamin D. These include steroids, cholestyramide, cholesterol-lowering medicine and medicines for seizures, phenobarbital and phenytoin.
Although the toxicity of vitamin D is rare, there is no evidence that taking more than the upper limit of the recommended dose is beneficial, experts said. In some cases, excess amounts of vitamin D can lead to kidney failure, calcification of soft tissues throughout the body, including coronary vessels and heart valves, cardiac arrhythmias and even death.