Over the past few years, Vitamin D has become the nutrient in the news. It seems like every day a different article comes out touting how Vitamin D will cure or prevent a different disease. For several years, there has been speculation about whether these studies would change the official recommended intake for Vitamin D determined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a part of the National Academy of Sciences. <br />
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On November 30, 2010, the IOM released its latest recommendations for the Dietary Reference Intakes (RDI) for Calcium and Vitamin D. Fourteen nutrition and medical experts reviewed numerous scientific studies and decided that the only clear role for Calcium and Vitamin D was in maintaining bone health. Studies of other the possible benefits of Vitamin D were just too inconsistent to draw any conclusions. <br />
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To support bone health, the new guidelines have raised the RDI for Vitamin D for every age group. For infants, the RDI is 400 International Units (IU) per day. For children over one year of age and adults up to age 70, the new RDI is 600 IU per day. Over age 70 the RDI increases to 800 IU. For pregnant and breast feeding women, the IOM did not find any evidence that Vitamin D needs increased compared to other women, so the RDI is also 600 IU. The committee established these recommendations based on the assumption that a person would not get any Vitamin D from exposure to the sun. Of course if a person is routinely in the sun, Vitamin D requirements from diet and supplements would probably be lower. <br />
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The IOM did establish upper safe limits for Vitamin D for all age groups. For infants under 6 months of age, the upper safe intake is 1,000 IU and for infants over 6 months of age the upper limit is 1,500 IU. For children 1-3 years of age the upper safe limit is 2,500 IU, but that increases to 3,000 IU for children 4-8 years of age. For all other groups, the upper safe limit is 4,000 IU. Most people would be unable to hit that upper limit without taking supplements. <br />
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Cod liver oil is the richest food source of Vitamin D with 1,360 IU per tablespoon. Other rich sources are sockeye salmon (794 IU for 3 oz.), mackerel (388 IU for 3 oz.), tuna fish (154 IU for 3 oz.) and fortified milk (115-124 IU per cup.) Other possible sources are fortified yogurt and orange juice, some fortified cereals, sardines, liver and egg yolks. <br />
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The committee report admitted that coming up with the Vitamin D recommendations was more difficult than establishing the calcium recommendations. Therefore, it is logical to expect that as more high quality research becomes available about the effects of Vitamin D, these RDIs may again change. <br />
Source: University of Georgia Cooperative Extension
