Benefits of Vitamin D

Vitamin D’s most notable role is helping your body absorb calcium and phosphorus. These nutrients help you build strong bones. But vitamin D is also involved in how you feel day to day.

A deficiency can contribute to depression, muscle weakness, fatigue and pain, according to the Cleveland Clinic. A low level of vitamin D is also a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, according to a review published in the journal Clinical Hypertension.

To help, here are a few tips.

First, go outdoors — even when it’s cold. In a study from Spain, people met their vitamin D requirements with just 7 minutes of sunlight in July. But in January, they needed more than 2 hours of sun.

That means that as the temperature drops, you should actually make an even bigger effort to get outdoors.

Include foods that contain vitamin D in your diet Fatty fish are perhaps the best: A 3-ounce salmon fillet delivers 71% of your daily intake, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Other vitamin D–rich foods to eat in winter include mushrooms and egg yolks. But the easiest source of dietary vitamin D is often dairy. Milk isn’t a natural source of vitamin D, but food manufacturers began fortifying it with the vitamin in the 1930s. This was to help combat childhood rickets, a weak-bone disease caused by chronically low levels of vitamin D.

That makes yogurt and many cheeses good sources of vitamin D. You can also get vitamin D from many breakfast cereals, which are also fortified.

Take supplements are more reliable than diet alone for vitamin D. Overthe-counter vitamin D supplements generally contain between 800 and 2,000 IUs. Prescription-strength supplements can be several times stronger.

Pay attention to calcium, too. And if you still have concerns, talk to your doctor about your medications.