By Dr. John Cannell, Vitamin D Council

The best and most natural way to get vitamin D is by sunbathing, or, when that is not possible, by taking supplements. However, most people will do neither and are thus severely vitamin D deficient. For that reason, enhanced dietary forms of vitamin D are desperately needed for the masses.

Wild-caught fatty fish, such as salmon and sardines are rich in vitamin D, although at about 700 IU per serving, one would have to eat about seven servings of fish per day to get enough vitamin D. Reindeer meat, seagulls eggs, and lichen are also rich sources of vitamin D, but they are not on many menus.

That brings us to food fortification. Many public health officials have contended that we need to have more foods enriched with vitamin D, especially when you consider how deficient some groups of people are.

One barrier to improving vitamin D status with this method is that it is simply not possible to put large amounts of vitamin D in any on food, as safety issues arise for those consuming large quantities of that particular food. Thus increasing enrichment of a large variety of foods is important. For instance, several years ago, the idea of adding more vitamin D to cereal-grain products was recommended.

Another strategy is to try and increase the amount of vitamin D in foods that already have some vitamin D in them naturally. Eggs are often listed as a rich source of vitamin D.

According to the USDA, one large egg, which weighs about 50 g, contains approximately 50 IU of vitamin D3, which is concentrated in the yolk. Dr. Linxing Yao and colleagues of Iowa State University decided to see if they could increase the amont of vitamin D in eggs by feeding the chickens more vitamin D to see if fortification affected egg quality or palatability.

Click here to read more in the latest issue of Smart Tan Magazine online.