Foods High in Vitamin D

If you're looking to obtain more vitamin D from food sources you may be wondering which fruits and vegetables are high in vitamin D.

While the best way to get vitamin D is from the sun, sometimes it isn't possible to get the daily requirement in this way due to factors including the strength of the sunlight on any given day, skin color (darker skinned people absorb less vitamin D than lighter skinned people), distance from the equator, age, and other variables.

So can you get vitamin D from fruits and vegetables? The fact is that no fruit contains vitamin D and mushrooms are the only vegetable that contains it.

A serving of typical white button mushrooms contains a small amount of vitamin D2, which is about 4% of the recommended daily value. However, when mushrooms are exposed to ultraviolet B radiation, their vitamin D content goes up dramatically. Some companies are now growing special vitamin-D rich mushrooms using this process. For example, Dole has some portobello mushrooms on the market that provide 100 percent of the daily recommended daily intake of vitamin D per serving.

All other food sources of vitamin D are animal in origin like beef, sardines, salmon, shrimp, eggs, butter, goat cheese, chicken livers, sour cream, and milk. Also, some foods like milk and orange juice are fortified with vitamin D.