Where do vegans like me get our vitamin D? Well, from the sun, of course. I mean c’mon.
Can’t you tell? Can you? Probably not…
Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. Vitamin D is of course
associate with the sun, but with estimates of around 70% of the population being deficient,
we’re apparently not getting the exposure we require. Now this is an oversimplification
of the matter as vitamin D comes in two basic forms: D2 and D3. D2 is present in vegetables
and various supplements and D3 is mainly formed from our skin’s exposure to the sun.
But is also present in a variety of animal products, like fatty fish and their oils, beef liver,
egg yolks, and fortified dairy and grain products. The fortified products, however, have marginal
levels for the most part, and are not well regulated. So what’s a vegan, particularly
a vegan in non-tropical climates, to do? Well, in this fifth video in my nutrient series
with nutrition powerhouse Dr. Michael Greger of Nutritionfacts.org,
We’ll tackled the vitamin D debacle.
Could you talk a little bit about Vitamin-D in, you know, a plant based diet. Where are
we getting it...Is it beyond just exposing yourself to the sun and how does all of that work?
So, Vitamin-D is the sunshine vitamin. It’s actually not a vitamin but
a hormone...our skin makes when it’s exposed to sunlight. Of course, depends on where you
live on the planet. We evolved running around, you know, naked in equatorial Africa getting
baked in the sun all day. We just weren’t meant to live at such latitudes where during
the winter months, up in Boston for example, January, February, no matter how much you
sunbathe naked on the commons, you are not going to make enough Vitamin-D. Now, there
are some Vitamin-D you made in the summer that will be stored in your fat, and so you...
...but your levels will dip below which we believe is optimal. So, particularly during the winter
months or anytime during the year for people not getting enough mid-day sun, and for white
enough people at low enough latitudes, you know, 5 minutes forearms and face...
...can be enough mid-day sun. But, particularly at higher latitudes with darker skin, people that are
older, or those that have jobs and they’re inside all day, no matter how sunny it is
outside, should get their Vitamin-D from Vitamin-D supplements. So, I recommend for people not
getting enough mid-day sun to take...2,000 International Units (IU) of Vitamin-D a day which is what I do.
Do you know, are there any Vitamin-D supplements that you are aware of that don’t
have their source from Lanolin or any sheep sources?
Oh yeah, so all D2 sources come from fungi; from mushrooms, and there are
now plant based sources of D3 which are made from lichen. And the studies showing that
Vitamin-D, optimal Vitamin-D levels associated with longer life have come from Vitamin-D3
studies, so I encourage people, eh...that D3 is better just because we have data there.
So, you can get plant based or animal based D3 just as easily.
I hope you enjoyed hearing from Dr. Greger on this matter. Just to note, Vitamin D is
essential for bone health as it helps calcium get from our intestines to our bones.
You can find out all about calcium in a vegan diet in this video. It also helps with muscle
function and is associated with lower risks of breast and colon cancer. Vitamin D may
also play a role in mood stabilization and fighting depression.
As Dr. Greger said, depending on where your live, and even your body’s individual absorption
issues, you may not be getting adequate vitamin D, regardless of your diet. We were intended
to get our D from the sun but as most of us are no longer running around naked in the
tropical sun and feeling the rays lap our skin with their warm embrace.
Well, this is...awkward.
There are areas of the world where sun-based vitamin D is simply not available for long
stretches of time. Dietarally, there now exists UV-exposed mushrooms that contain vitamin D
Mushrooms naturally produce and store the vitamin when exposed to sunlight, but don’t
tend to grow in sunlight, so farmers have taken to briefly exposing harvested mushrooms
to UV light. This can also be accomplished by leaving them in the sun, however then...
...they shrivel up.
Eww!
No..Eww!
So, if you want to supplement, how do you ensure the sources are vegan? Well, D2 is
always vegan, as it’s a plant-based source, but D3, which is commonly used in supplements
and vitamin D fortified grains, juices, and other products, comes from lanolin, which
is derived from sheep’s wool.
Now if you’re thinking “what’s the big deal? It’s not like sheep are dying for
their wool". Please see my video on whether wool is vegan. Up until more recent years,
there were no vegan vitamin D3 supplements. However, now there are several brands of vegan
D3 on the market, derived from lichen.
I have links to the vegan D3 supplements and further reading in the blog post for this video, which
is linked in the video description below and in the infocard sidebar. Now I personally don’t eat any
fortified foods so when I enter my food intake into Cronometer,
my vitamin D always looks, kind of sad. But, I am sure to expose myself
to sunlight regularly and, when living in less friendly climates, I will supplement with vegan options.
Now, a word of caution- you can take too many vitamin D supplements, resulting in high blood calcium
levels, which can lead to nausea, constipation, confusion, abnormal heart rhythm, and even
kidney stones. So please stay within doctor-recommended doses.
So, to track your own vitamin D, check out Cronometer. You can enter your meals and activity
to make sure you’re right where you want to be. You can even go and create your own
food, select supplement and enter the data for the supplement you take. Then, in your
day’s nutrition report, you can have the option of showing or hiding your supplements to see
where your diet alone measures up. Pretty freakin’ cool, right? So cool that they’re
actually sponsoring this video to get this information out. And the best part?
It's totally free to use these services. Be sure to use the link in the video description below to make
your free profile so they know that Bite Size Vegan sent you.
I myself just found out about the supplement option on there and kind of had a nerdgasm.
Too much?
Anyways, if you enjoyed basking in the rays of vegan education, give the video a big thumbs
up and share it around to spread the nutritional truth. If you’re new here, be sure to hit that
big red subscribe button down there for more awesome vegan content every Monday, Wednesday,
and some Fridays, and not to miss out on the rest of the videos with Dr. Greger.
You can find the playlist with all of the videos so far in the infocard sidebar and in the video description below.
If you want to help keep Bite Size Vegan educating, please check out either of the support
links in the video description below and for perks and rewards for your support, just click on
the Nugget Army icon there or the link in the description for more info on joining up.
You can also find it in the info card sidebar. And hey, while you're here, go ahead and check out some of my related videos.
Now go live vegan, get your D ethically, and I’ll see you soon.
Where do I get my sun from?
Vitamin D, not sun...from the sun.
These are actually the sunglasses I wear...they go over glasses.
Cause I'm to cheap to get a prescription, so.
Rock it out like an old lady who just got her eyes dilated.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community