Do you remember these scenes: sitting out in the sun on a hot summers day, soaking up that glorious, bootiful vitamin D?

Come winter, many of us are swathed with information by the media and supplement companies, saying that during these months, supplementing with vitamin D is essential, in order to avoid those nasty bugs that loom in the cold shadows (COVID—19 now included)

Firstly, please note, that having your levels checked is highly recommended, before supplementing blindly. Excess can be as bad as too little.

Furthermore, while vitamin D IS very important for the immune system, it is equally as important to note the form of vitamin D we’re supplementing with.

Unless the form is “vitamin D2” or “D3” (this will be marked on the bottle), it is unable to be properly metabolised and used by your body.

A couple of interesting facts:

FROM THE SUN: Rule of thumb is that the best time to absorb vitamin D is when your shadow is shorter than you. Little and often is key- no more than 30mins at a time is about right.

FROM MUSHROOMS: A lot of mushrooms are actually grown in the dark, so look for ‘vitamin D enriched’ ones, or leave them out in the sun for a bit!

“When fresh button mushrooms are deliberately exposed to midday sunlight for 15–120 min, they generate significant amounts of vitamin D2, usually in excess of 10 μg/100 g FW, which approaches the daily requirement of vitamin D recommended in many countries” (Cardwell et al, 2010).