Daily dose of the sunshine vitamin: Vitamin D

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Vitamin D is often called the sunshine vitamin because it is mainly produced in the body when one is exposed to UV rays (sunlight). This is why skin is the major natural source of Vitamin D. Very few foods contain this essential vitamin and one of these is milk. Other than sunlight it is it is one of the excellent sources of Vitamin D. Other foods that contain it are fatty fish such as sardines, herring, salmon, trout and mackerel. It is also present in fish-liver oil (cod liver oil) and egg yolk. A deficiency of Vitamin D can cause health issues such as softening of the bones (rickets). This vitamin is divided into five sub classes called D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5.

While milk is the main source of Vitamin D in diets, it is also present in fortified beverages and yogurts manufactured with Vitamin D fortified milk. A Canadian study revealed that 66% of people in that particular country don’t have Vitamin D levels in their blood which is normally considered healthy. On the contrary those who do consume it more than one time in a day presented a higher blood level of Vitamin D than those who consume it only once in a day, proving why milk is suitable to be enjoyed everyday and why it should be a part of anyones diet.

The year 2010 brought new recommendations for Vitamin D from the Institute of Medicine. These recommendations were mainly for people in the U.S and Canada. They stated that ‘recommended dietary allowances were set at 600 international units (IU) for those in the age range of 1 to 70 and 800 IU for those who are older than 71. So those older than 2 and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers must take at least 2 cups of milk per day and older people over 50 should take a Vitamin D supplement of 400 IU.

Breastfed babies are at very much of a high risk of developing Vitamin D deficiency, especially babies who are born in the winter. Because of this it is very important that he or she is given a supplement of 400 IU daily, this can also be administered in drops of 1ml each right from birth. As the child grows and other food and cows milk is introduced into his or her diet there is no need to continue this supplement as then he or she will be receiving the required amount of Vitamin D.