Vitamin D-Rich Foods: Top Sources Ranked, Plus How Much You Need

Vitamin D at a glance

• Why it matters: vitamin D helps the gut absorb calcium and keeps calcium and phosphate levels high enough for normal bone mineralization. Without enough, bones can become thin, brittle or misshapen; deficiency causes rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults (NIH ODS).
• Few foods have it naturally: the best natural sources are the flesh of fatty fish and fish liver oils; beef liver, egg yolks and cheese have small amounts, and mushrooms provide variable amounts of vitamin D2 (NIH ODS).
• Fortified foods do the heavy lifting: in the U.S., fortified foods such as milk and breakfast cereals provide most of the vitamin D people eat. Almost all U.S. milk is fortified with about 3 mcg (120 IU) per cup (NIH ODS).
• Sunlight counts too: your skin makes vitamin D from UVB light, but season, time of day, skin color, age and sunscreen all change how much (NIH ODS).
• Top food sources per serving here: sockeye salmon (canned or cooked), farmed rainbow trout, canned pink salmon and UV-exposed mushrooms, plus cod liver oil.

How much vitamin D do you need?

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) set by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academies, summarized by the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, is 15 micrograms (mcg), or 600 International Units (IU), a day for everyone ages 1 to 70, including during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and 20 mcg (800 IU) a day after age 70. Infants have an Adequate Intake of 10 mcg (400 IU). The RDAs assume minimal sun exposure. The Daily Value (DV) on Nutrition Facts labels is 20 mcg (800 IU), and labels must list vitamin D in mcg, so a food with 4 mcg provides 20% DV, which counts as a high source.

Most people in the U.S. eat less vitamin D than recommended. In NHANES 2015 to 2016, average intakes from foods and beverages were 5.1 mcg (204 IU) a day for men, 4.2 mcg (168 IU) for women and 4.9 mcg (196 IU) for children 2 to 19, and 2013 to 2016 data showed that 92% of men and more than 97% of women got less than the average requirement of 10 mcg (400 IU) from food (NIH ODS). Blood levels tell a different story: in NHANES 2011 to 2014, most people had sufficient levels, 18% were at risk of inadequacy and 5% were at risk of deficiency. Sun exposure, and a potent form of vitamin D in animal foods (25-hydroxyvitamin D) that intake surveys and USDA food data do not count, help explain the gap.

Vitamin D-rich foods list (per serving)

Values are for the form listed. Mushrooms vary a lot: ordinary white mushrooms have almost no vitamin D, but mushrooms treated with UV light have much more (NIH ODS), so look for “UV-exposed” or “high in vitamin D” on the package. The UV-exposed rows are USDA samples, and the amount in what you buy can differ. Fortified foods vary by brand: the yogurt, almond milk, orange juice, spread and cereal rows are single USDA-analyzed products and are only examples, so check the Nutrition Facts label; NIH lists 2.5 to 3.6 mcg (100 to 144 IU) per cup for fortified soy, almond and oat milks and 2 mcg (80 IU) for a cereal fortified with 10% of the DV. Cheese and ice cream are not usually fortified in the U.S. Wild Atlantic salmon is not shown because USDA SR Legacy has no vitamin D value for it. Swordfish is high in vitamin D, but FDA lists it among the “Choices to Avoid” because of mercury for people who are pregnant or breastfeeding and for young children; trout, salmon, sardines, herring and canned light tuna are on FDA’s “Best Choices” list. Chicken breast, ground beef and portabella mushrooms that are not UV-treated have 0.1 mcg or less per serving (NIH ODS), and plant foods such as grains, beans, nuts, fruits and vegetables have essentially none.

Sunlight and vitamin D

Most people meet at least some of their vitamin D needs from the sun. UVB rays turn a compound in the skin into vitamin D3. How much you make depends on the season, time of day, length of day, cloud cover, smog, skin melanin and sunscreen, and older people and people with dark skin make less (NIH ODS). UVB does not pass through glass, so sitting by a sunny window does not produce vitamin D. Harvard’s Nutrition Source notes that people living as far north as Boston cannot make enough vitamin D from the sun for about 4 months of the year.

Because of these variables there is no official guideline for how much sun is enough. NIH notes that some experts suggest about 5 to 30 minutes of midday sun on the face, arms, hands and legs without sunscreen, daily or at least twice a week, but UV radiation is a carcinogen and the most preventable cause of skin cancer. Federal agencies advise sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher whenever you are in the sun, and MedlinePlus says sun exposure for more than a few minutes without sunscreen is not recommended. That is why food, fortified foods and, when needed, supplements are the safer way to cover your needs.

Who is most at risk of low vitamin D?

• Breastfed infants: breast milk alone usually does not meet an infant’s needs. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 10 mcg (400 IU) a day of vitamin D for exclusively and partially breastfed infants starting shortly after birth (NIH ODS).
• Older adults: the skin makes less vitamin D with age, and older adults often spend more time indoors.
• People with little sun exposure: for example, people who are homebound, wear long robes or head coverings, or have jobs that limit time outdoors.
• People with dark skin: more melanin reduces vitamin D production from sunlight, although whether the resulting lower blood levels harm health is not clear (NIH ODS).
• People with conditions that limit fat absorption: such as some liver diseases, cystic fibrosis, celiac disease, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
• People with obesity or after gastric bypass surgery: body fat holds on to vitamin D, and bypass surgery skips part of the intestine where it is absorbed.
• People who avoid milk: diets low in vitamin D are more common with milk allergy, lactose intolerance and ovo-vegetarian or vegan diets.

Routine testing is not recommended for everyone: the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force found insufficient evidence to assess screening adults without symptoms (NIH ODS). For more, read our article on vitamin D deficiency and its health risks.

Vitamin D2 vs D3, and what the research shows

Foods and supplements contain two main forms: vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol), found in mushrooms and made from yeast, and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), found in animal foods and made in the skin. Both are well absorbed and both raise blood levels, but most evidence indicates that D3 raises blood levels more and keeps them up longer (NIH ODS). Fat in the same meal helps absorption, although some vitamin D is absorbed without it. See our guide to vitamin D2 vs D3.

Bone health is where the evidence is strongest. The Food and Nutrition Board found the evidence inadequate or too inconsistent to link vitamin D to other health outcomes, and supplement trials in healthy people have been disappointing: the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends against taking 10 mcg (400 IU) or less of vitamin D with 1,000 mg or less of calcium to prevent fractures in healthy adults living in the community (NIH ODS), and in the VITAL trial of 25,871 adults, 2,000 IU a day did not reduce fractures or cardiovascular events, or rates of breast, prostate and colorectal cancer (Harvard Nutrition Source). Read more in calcium and vitamin D for bones, and pair vitamin D with calcium-rich foods.

Easy ways to get more vitamin D

• Have fatty fish twice a week: our sheet-pan salmon with vegetables works with trout too. Canned salmon and sardines are budget-friendly; see eating healthy on a budget and our omega-3-rich foods list, since many of the same fish lead both lists.
• Make eggs a regular breakfast: try our spinach tomato egg scramble. The vitamin D is in the yolk.
• Choose fortified milk or a fortified plant milk for overnight oats with berries (made with 2% milk or soy milk) or berry chia pudding (made with almond milk; pick one labeled with added vitamin D).
• Swap in UV-exposed mushrooms: use them in our tofu vegetable stir-fry, which calls for 2 cups of sliced mushrooms.
• Read labels on cereal, yogurt, orange juice and spreads: fortification varies by brand, and the label lists vitamin D in mcg.

Related on HealAtlas

• Omega-3-rich foods
• Calcium-rich foods
• Magnesium-rich foods
• Vitamin B12-rich foods
• Folate-rich foods
• Zinc-rich foods
• Foods high in iron
• Vitamin D deficiency: health risks
• Vitamin D2 vs D3
• Calcium and vitamin D for bones
• Foods for immune support
• Healthy whole-food recipes