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