Vegetables High In Vitamin D: Eating Vegetables For Vitamin D Intake

vitamin d
vitamin d
(Image credit: Olha_Afanasieva)

Vitamin D is an essential nutrient. The human body needs it in order to absorb calcium and magnesium, which are necessary for healthy bones and teeth. While some people get enough Vitamin D naturally, some don’t, and some need a little extra. Keep reading to learn more about Vitamin D-rich veggies.

Eating Vegetables for Vitamin D Intake

Vitamin D is often referred to as the sunshine vitamin because the human body produces it naturally when it is exposed to the sun. It is because of this; the simple act of gardening can do a lot to help your body produce the Vitamin D it needs. It doesn’t matter what you grow – as long as you’re out in the sunshine regularly, you’re doing your body good. How well this works varies, however, and can depend upon a number of things like skin tone, time of year, and the presence of sunscreen. People over 70 also need extra Vitamin D to promote healthy bones. Due to this, it’s important for many people to seek out ways to supplement their Vitamin D intake. One effective way is through diet.

Vegetables High in Vitamin D

The most famous dietary source of Vitamin D is, of course, milk. Is there any Vitamin D in vegetables though? The short answer is, not particularly. Vegetables do a lot for us, but supplying Vitamin D is not one of their strong suits. There is, however, one major exception: mushrooms. While they are not really vegetables in the strictest sense, mushrooms can be grown at home. They contain a decent amount of Vitamin D… as long as you put them in the sun first. Mushrooms convert sunshine to vitamin D just like humans do. Unwrap your mushrooms and place them in direct sunlight at least one hour before eating-- this should increase their Vitamin D content and, as soon as you consume them, it should increase yours too.

Liz Baessler
Senior Editor

The only child of a horticulturist and an English teacher, Liz Baessler was destined to become a gardening editor. She has been with Gardening Know how since 2015, and a Senior Editor since 2020. She holds a BA in English from Brandeis University and an MA in English from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. After years of gardening in containers and community garden plots, she finally has a backyard of her own, which she is systematically filling with vegetables and flowers.