Vitamin D

Benefits
Vitamin D is increasingly being viewed as important. It’s well known for working with calcium to strengthen your bones, but it may also help prevent osteoarthritis, reduce your risk of certain cancers, fight inflammation, and help regulate blood pressure.

Medfit Recommendation
There’s mounting evidence to support a bump in the daily dose of D. While the government recommendations are 400 international units (IU) per day if you’re under 70 years of age.

Good Sources
There are three ways to get vitamin D: food, sunlight, and supplements. If you’re not getting enough from your diet, or you don’t spend much time outdoors (just 10–20 minutes in the sun can significantly boost your body’s production of vitamin D), take a daily supplement.

Salmon, canned (3 ounces) 530 IU
Salmon, cooked (3.5 ounces) 240–360 IU
Tuna, canned (3 ounces) 200 IU
Soymilk, fortified (8 ounces) 100 IU
Orange juice, fortified (8 ounces) 100 IU
Milk, low-fat, fortified (8 ounces) 98 IU
Cereal, fortified (1 cup) 40–50 IU
Eggs (1 large) 20–26 IU
Swiss cheese (1 ounce) 12 IU