We all know that sunshine is the best way of getting your vitamin D, however sunshine isn’t always enough, as they found in a study from the city of Calgary, one of the sunniest places in Canada, and almost every person measured had a vitamin D deficiency. 97 percent of them!
In Australia, one of the sunniest places on earth, an osteoporosis study found over 43 percent of people had low vitamin D levels during the winter.
Recently we have had more people in this country with low Vitamin D levels which is a shame because vitamin D might just be your best defense against the modern world. For example:
• High vitamin D levels can lower the rate of ALL cancers by 77%
• People with the highest levels of vitamin D have a 43% lower rate of heart disease
• Men with the highest levels of vitamin D have less skin cancer
• Women with high vitamin D levels have 20% less bone loss and fractures
• People with high vitamin D levels have 20% lower rates of gum disease
• People with the most vitamin D have a 55% lower rate of diabetes
And vitamin D is a mood enhancer, too.
Meanwhile, vitamin D deficiency is linked to osteoporosis, increased body fat, unexplained muscle pain, impaired lung function, respiratory infections and even a depressed sex drive.
So whether sunshine is in short supply (or if you’re simply not getting enough of it), how do you ensure you have enough vitamin D? Of course, you can get it from eating beef, eggs and even cod liver oil, but interestingly mushrooms are the only vegetable in the world with vitamin D in them? And it almost seems like there are as many different types of mushrooms as there are ways to eat them.
The mushrooms with the highest amount of vitamin D are Maitake, a cupful eaten raw and diced will give you 786 IU. A cupful of raw Morel mushrooms will give you 136IU and Chanterelle eaten whole and raw will give you 114IUs.
So start adding mushrooms to your salads. Otherwise you can of-course take a supplement.