Your body requires tight regulation to function at its best. Each vitamin and mineral play a role in helping your body achieve and maintain this balance. One of the vitamins which plays many roles in promoting your health and wellbeing is vitamin D.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin which you can get from the food you eat as well as your body can create when you expose your skin to sunlight. There are many roles vitamin D plays in supporting your health and wellbeing. This includes promoting an optimal immune system function as well as allowing calcium to be absorbed in your body. New research now adds another important role of vitamin D to support optimal health in your body, to potentially reduce low grade, chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is linked to many disease states and conditions such as many types of cancer, obesity, and metabolic syndrome.
This new study investigated the effects of Vitamin D deficiency on 294 970 participants. The participants were aged between 37 to 73 years of age. Each participant filled out a questionnaire to understand broadly their health and lifestyle factors. In addition, blood levels of vitamin D from the form of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] were assessed as well as C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. CRP is a marker of inflammation. Researchers found that as blood levels of vitamin D increased the levels of CRP decreased. This trend started from levels of deficiency at less than 25 nanomoles per litre. This trend was seen up to 50 nanomoles per liter of vitamin D concentration in the blood. There were no further decreases above this level.
This trend which plateaued at around 50 nanomoles per litre reinforces the need for optimal but not excessive vitamin D. As a fat-soluble vitamin excess is stored in the body and can lead to toxicity.
The main source of vitamin D comes from the sun but there are food sources which also provide your body with this fat-soluble vitamin. This includes foods like seafood like seafood, eggs which include the yolk, dairy, and fortified products like cereals, orange juice and margarine.
The adequate intake for vitamin D recommended by the National Health and Medical Research council for men and women aged between 19-50 years of age is 5 micrograms per day. Between the age of 51-70 years the adequate intake increases to 10 micrograms per day. From the age of 71 years and above the adequate intake further increases to 15 micrograms per day.
Food sources of vitamin D include:
Note: 1 microgram (µg) is equal to 1 international unity (IU)
- Seafood:
- Sardines, canned, 2 sardines 1.2 µg
- Tuna, canned, 85g 1.0 µg
- Trout (rainbow), farmed, cooked, 85g 16.2 µg
- Salmon (sockeye), cooked, 85g 14.2 µg
- Fortified food products from cereal, breads, spreads like margarines and butter, and plant-based drinks like soy.
- Cod liver oil 1 teaspoon 34 µg
- Dairy
- Milk, 2% fat, Vit D fortified 1 cup 2.9 µg
- Cheddar cheese, 28g 0.3 µg
- Liver, beef, 85g 1.0 µg
- Egg yolk
- One large egg yolk 3.8 μg
- Mushrooms exposed to UV light: This provides vitamin D in the form of vitamin D2.
- Mushrooms, exposed to UV light, ½ cup 9.2 µg
Take home message: Low grade, chronic inflammation puts your body at a greater risk of many disease states. While there is no single factor which can promote an optimal level of balance in your body achieving adequate levels of vitamin D is an important component.
References:
- Ang Zhou, Elina Hyppönen, Vitamin D deficiency and C-reactive protein: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study, International Journal of Epidemiology, 2022;, dyac087, https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyac087
- C-Reactive Protein Test. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/c-reactive-protein-test/about/pac-20385228
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Food Data Central 2019
