
How to get your daily vitamin D
Me pēhea e kai i tō huaora D o ia rā
We need vitamin D for strong bones and muscles and general health. It helps your body take in enough calcium from the food you eat.
Your body makes most of the vitamin D it needs in your skin when exposed to direct sunlight. Sunlight through glass doesn't work because the glass blocks out the ultraviolet B rays needed to make vitamin D. You can get some vitamin D from foods, but this isn't enough by itself.
Your body can't store much vitamin D, so you need to keep topping it up.
Being low in vitamin D can cause muscle aches and thinning bones leading to osteoporosis.
Risk factors for being low in vitamin D include:
- spending most of your time indoors such as in a rest home or hospital
- having dark skin
- covering most of your skin when outdoors
- having to avoid sunlight because of other health conditions (such as skin cancer) or medications that you're taking.
Getting enough vitamin D
Sensible sun exposure is the best way to get your vitamin D. For most people, this is about 20 minutes each day. The amount of sun exposure you can have safely will vary depending on several factors such as:
- your skin colour
- if you're taking medications – some medications make your skin more sensitive to sunburn
- where you are in New Zealand, the season and the time of day
- certain medical conditions.
General recommendations for New Zealand depend on the time of year:
- September to April – Sun protection is recommended (shade, clothing coverage, a hat that shades your face and neck, sunscreen, sunglasses), especially between 10 am and 4 pm. A daily walk or some other form of outdoor physical activity in the early morning or late afternoon is recommended. Sunscreen reduces the amount of vitamin D you make and is generally not needed in the early morning or late afternoon.
- May to August – Some sun exposure is important. A daily walk or another form of outdoor physical activity in the hours around noon with face, arms and hands exposed is recommended. Sunscreen reduces the amount of vitamin D you make and is generally not needed at this time of year unless you're on snow or water.
Food
You can get some vitamin D from food but it's very difficult to get enough just from eating. Food sources of vitamin D include fatty fish (salmon, herrings and mackerel), liver and eggs. Some margarine, milks and yoghurt have added vitamin D.
For more information on how much of these foods you should eat, see Eating well for strong healthy bones.
Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed September 2023.
Sources
The information in this section comes from the following sources, some of which may be clinically complex or not available to the general public
Auckland Bone Density. Patient information sheet – Zoledronate (Aclasta). March 2010.
Brondani JE, Comim FV, Flores LM, Martini LA, Premaor MO (2019). Fruit and vegetable intake and bones: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE 14(5): e0217223. Retrieved February 2020.
Denova-Gutiérrez, E., Méndez-Sánchez, L., Muñoz-Aguirre, P., Tucker, K. L., & Clark, P. (2018). Dietary Patterns, Bone Mineral Density, and Risk of Fractures: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients, 10(12), 1922. Retrieved February 2020.
Fung, T. T., Arasaratnam, M. H., Grodstein, F., Katz, J. N., Rosner, B., Willett, W. C., & Feskanich, D. (2014). Soda consumption and risk of hip fractures in postmenopausal women in the Nurses' Health Study. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 100(3), 953–958. Retrieved February 2020.
Rizzoli R., Biver E., Bonjour J.P., Coxam V., Goltzman D., Kanis J.A., Lappe J., Rejnmark L., Sahni S., Weaver C., et al. Benefits and safety of dietary protein for bone health-an expert consensus paper endorsed by the European Society for Clinical and Economical Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis, and Musculoskeletal Diseases and by the International Osteoporosis Foundation. Osteoporos. Int. 2018;29:1933–1948. Retrieved February 2020.
Tai Vicky, Leung William, Grey Andrew, Reid Ian R, Bolland Mark J. Calcium intake and bone mineral density: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 2015; 351 :h4183. Retrieved February 2020.
Image and embedded video sources
Image of an elderly couple taking medication from Shutterstock (image ID 489594166). May 2020.
Image of an elderly couple walking dogs on the beach from Shutterstock (image ID 1110534611). May 2020.
Image of healthy food from Shutterstock (image ID 370429847). February 2020.
Image of a man lying in a field in the sun from Shutterstock (image ID 442357036). February 2020.
Image of a grandmother and grandchild gardening from Shutterstock (image ID 1239450052). May 2020.
Image of a woman being diagnosed with osteoporosis from Shutterstock (image ID 181678880). July 2023.
Image of a woman getting a zoledronate infusion from Shutterstock (image ID 2289663465). July 2023.
What is osteoporosis video from Patient.info on YouTube.
Page reference: 689952
Review key: HIOSP-24517