I know right, plant based sources of vitamin D sounds like a really obvious choice for this plant based/ vegan sources of x, y & z series that I’ve been running this entire year, doesn’t it? But it’s taken me until September? If you’re thinking this right now, you’re absolutely right. It’s long overdue and a very obvious choice. Vitamin D is often exclusively associated with two things: the sun and animal products. And the reason why it’s taken me so long to do a vitamin D month? Well, to be honest, there aren’t that many plant sources of vitamin D. At least not natural ones. Â
Featured Photo by Nikolai Chernichenko on Unsplash
Most plant sources of vitamin D involve another product being fortified, and these ingredients are going to be making up the bulk of my list today. Natural plant sources? I could only think of one off the top of my head. When I tried to do some more research, I found that my one is the only one. Â
Why we need vitamin DÂ
A lack of vitamin D can lead to bone deformities and the consumption of vitamin D helps to regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body, which is why so many supplements contain both.  These nutrients are needed to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy. So, vitamin D is an important one.Â
How much vitamin D do we need? Â
According to the NHS, children over the age of 1 and adults need 10 micrograms (μg) of vitamin D daily. One microgram is one thousandth of a milligram (mg). Â
Plant Based Sources of Vitamin DÂ
Non food relatedÂ
Of course, there’s the sun. However, if you have skin the colour of paper, like me, or wear a lot of SPF, you’re probably not exposing yourself to the sun often enough to really get any benefit from that. Most adults need 10-30 minutes in the sun each day to get the amount that we need. However, that time needs to be will full exposure.Â
Natural Plant Sources of Vitamin DÂ
MushroomsÂ
Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash
Chestnut mushrooms, actually. And a couple of other varieties, but chestnut are the main ones. Not all mushrooms are sources of vitamin D, so check your individual varieties. Â
But chestnut mushrooms contain 5.00µg, so 50% of the RDA per 100g. Â
If you’re in the UK, Tesco sell mushrooms that have been grown in the optimal conditions for them to contain the highest possible amount of vitamin D. The individual varieties grown this way have a sticker on the packet telling you they’re a source. Â
Fortified Sources of Vitamin DÂ
Non-dairy milk and other alternatives Â
 a lot of dairy alternatives contain added calcium and vitamin D. Of course, the amounts will vary depending on the brand and product, but Alpro products all contain 0.75 μg per 100ml/ 100g serving.Â
Breads and cereals Â
Lots of breads and cereals are fortified as a plan to ensure children get the amount they need. However lots are fortified with animal derived vitamin D3 rather than plant based D2, be sure to check your labels clearly and make sure the box is marked as vegan. Â
Some JuicesÂ
Much like breads and cereals, some juices are fortified as well. More of the prepacked carton kind than bottles of fresh juice, usually. Again, this is another one where amounts vary depending on brand and product, but many of them contain a similar amount to the Alpro products. Â
Were you shocked to find that mushrooms are one of the only plant based sources of vitamin D when it comes to food? Or were you surprised that some of these products were fortified? Â
Until next time,Â
Sophie Â
Gutted that mushrooms are the answer, they’re my nemesis in food form, haha. I’ll have to double check the soya milk and bread that we buy! Thanks for the heads-up about the animal derived vs plant derived vitamin D as well, I didn’t know about that.
An informative post! Just as a FYI, In North America Vitamin D is measured in International Units and the amount recommended in Canada is 1000 IU for adults which is the same I believe as what you are indicating.
I just assumed there would be loads of plant based sources of Vitamin D so I guess I am pretty surprised that chestnut mushrooms are one of the only ones! I love the extra Vitamin D mushrooms you can get in the supermarket now – I swear they’re firmer than the normal versions!
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This is so interesting, thank you for the post, definitely going to make a conscious effort to add more vitamin D into my life.
I take Vitamin D for health reasons and it’s nice to read about other sources of Vitamin D too x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
This is interesting and good to know! I do wonder if I am getting enough vitamin D, but I do love chestnut mushrooms and have them quite often. I also have a lot of different alpro milk’s, I have never really looked at the packaging though to see what nutrients I’m getting with them! xx
Thanks for sharing – I always like to find food based sources rather than supplements.
Thanks for this post! I was familiar with the importance of Vitamin D, but I didn’t remember the plant sources of it. Fortunately where I live, in Hawaii it’s not too hard to get that sunshine. But good news, I love mushrooms!
Thank you so much for sharing these sources of vitamin D.
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This was such an interesting post. I never realised this about chestnut mushrooms though. Its such a shame that I don’t like them.
I’m surprised by how few plant based products contain vitamin D. I reguarly suffer with a vitamin D deficiency so knowing mushrooms and juices have it is super helpful. Thank you for sharing!
I’m always on the look for ways to get more vitamin D and I had no idea Mushrooms was part of it. My body is really bad at the whole vitamin D thing and as soon as fall hits my levels fall and I need to take pills to keep it up. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I didn’t realise mushrooms were a good source of vitamin d! x
Love this post – so informative! Thanks for sharing <3
I recently started taking a vitamin D supplement because I rarely spend time in the sun and when I do I’m using sunscreen. I had no idea mushrooms were the one source of vitamin D. I really really do not like mushrooms haha. So I guess I’m sticking with the supplement! I didn’t know what the difference was between D3 and D2, so thank you for sharing that!
This was an interesting read. I do fear that I haven’t been getting enough vitamin D since, as silly as it may sound, I was only really aware of the sun as a source of it! It looks like I’ll be trying to fit more of these items into my diet now!
Gabija | EveryLittleThing Blog
Ahh I really wish it wasn’t mushrooms, I don’t know what it is about them but I can’t stand them, I’ll have to try the other options especially now the darker days are coming x
This is quite informative, I didn’t realise you could get vitamin D through food! Thanks for sharing x
Like you, I’m also very pale so avoid the sun as much as I can so I probably don’t get quite enough vitamin D! However I do have soy milk every day!
This is super informative! Love that you included specific brands.
My doctor put me on vitamin D vitamins but I feel like I really need to get more. I was surprised about the mushrooms. I thought there were more plants with Vitamin D in them.
I started taking a vitamin d supplement a few months ago as I don’t think I was getting enough x
Ooh this was really interesting to read! I’m not a huge fan of mushrooms but often think about trying to add them to more meals anyway xx
Tiffany x http://www.foodandotherloves.co.uk