Vitamin D content of food and its contribution to vitamin D status: a brief overview and Australian focus.

Abstract

There are only a few natural foods that contain nutritionally significant quantities of vitamin D. These include egg yolk, some fatty fish, and in much lower concentrations, meat. The published values of the vitamin D content of food are summarised here and their contribution to dietary vitamin D intake is discussed, with particular reference to Australia. Dietary vitamin D is unlikely to reach the level recommended by the US Institute of Medicine. It is therefore concluded that dietary vitamin D will only be a component of vitamin D supply, with UV exposure and/or oral supplements continuing to be the main sources of vitamin D to maintain adequate status.