>It is coming upon us, and we cannot put it off much longer. The winter months in Buffalo, New York!
Let us prepare for this with some Vitamin D.
Adequate intake for a person between 5 months an 50 years is 5 mcg or ( 200 IU)
For 51-70 years 10mcg or (400IU)
71 and older 15 mcg or (600 IU)
To find out what your levels are in Vitamin D, your MD can help. You will need to take a blood test.
But there are natural sources of Vitamin D such as Sunlight, so if you can go to Florida some time soon. That would also be helpful!
Foods:
Natural sources of vitamin D are few. D2 is found only in yeast and D3 occurs in fish liver oils. Fatty fish such as mackerel or salmon contain reasonable amounts of Vitamin D 3, and small amounts are found in egg yolk.
Most of our dietary sources of Vit D are fortified foods: The Vitamin D content of milk is standardized at 10 mcg (400IU)/qt. and other dairy products such as yogurt have vitamin D added. For the lactose intolerant, there are fortified with Vit D and Calcium, soy and almond milk. Juices are also fortified with Vit D and Calcium.
Therefore, for persons who have limited exposure to sunlight, the food sources can be very important in the winter months.
FOOD SOURCE QUANTITY VIT D in mcg
Grains
ready to eat cereal 3/4 cup 1.0
Fruit group
Orange juice, fortified 1 cup 2.5
Meat, beans, eggs, nuts
tuna fish, canned in oil 3 ounces 5.7
egg yolk 1 0.5
Milk group
milk, fortified 1 cup 2.9
soy milk, fortified 1 cup 2.5
Taken in part from: Schlenker, E. Roth, S. (2011) Williams Essentials of Nutrition and Diet Therapy. St. Louis, Mo. Elsevier-Mosby