Forums: January 2010 Kickstart Forum Archive: Vegan sources of Vitamin D?
Created on: 01/07/10 02:17 PM Views: 1588 Replies: 6
Joalie24 Joined: 01/05/10 Posts: 15	Vegan sources of Vitamin D? Posted Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 2:17 PM Besides time in the sun (which I love, but unfortunately have been unable to experience the last week or so in Western New York), does anyone have suggestions of some vegan food sources of Vitamin D I can stock up on?
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shanna Joined: 12/30/09 Posts: 287	RE: Vegan sources of Vitamin D? Posted Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 2:52 PM I think it's actually hard to get from food? Maybe somebody else can confirm that. It's usually in fortified plant milks--I've never found a soymilk that doesn't have it, for instance. Fortified cereals will often have it too. And I take a vegan multivitamin (Deva Vegan 1-A-Day) that has 100% of the RDA. The D2 form is vegan, and the D3 is made from sheep's wool, so I take the D2 for ethical consistency. Supposedly it takes more D2 than D3, but my levels have always been fine.
	Edited 01/07/10 2:57 PM Quote | Send PM | Link | Top | Bottom
Susan Levin Joined: 12/26/09 Posts: 1212	RE: Vegan sources of Vitamin D? Posted Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 3:14 PM That's right. It's very difficult to get from food. Vitamin D is a bit of a misnomer as it acts more like a hormone than a vitamin. It's something that is activated in your skin by the sun. More evidence that humans were not meant to sit at desks all day in cubicles! Whether you get enough sun activation or not, I recommend you go for a test and see what your levels are before supplementation. Then you and your healthcare provider can monitor the levels and adjust supplements as needed. Susan Levin, MS, RD PCRM Director of Nutrition Education
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shanna Joined: 12/30/09 Posts: 287	RE: Vegan sources of Vitamin D? Posted Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 3:28 PM thanks!
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Joalie24 Joined: 01/05/10 Posts: 15	RE: Vegan sources of Vitamin D? Posted Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 7:37 PM Awesome, thank you both for the great tips! I will look into all of those things
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revolutionoftheheart Joined: 01/07/10 Location: NYC Posts: 164	RE: Vegan sources of Vitamin D? Posted Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 8:33 PM ".... And I take a vegan multivitamin (Deva Vegan 1-A-Day) that has 100% of the RDA. The D2 form is vegan, and the D3 is made from sheep's wool, so I take the D2 for ethical consistency. Supposedly it takes more D2 than D3, but my levels have always been fine." Hi Shanna -- may I ask do you have your D levels checked periodically and what are they? Reason I ask, well, I am vegan 3 years, with one caveat I hope you'll all cut me some slack on. I've been taking D3 in an olive oil base and it got my D up to 65-70 really fast. My levels have been way below te minimum for too long. I am 56 and and had breast cancer 12 yrs ago and am really paranoid about my bones ... I'm also on 20 mg prednisone now for a mysteriously high sed rate that my drs. are baffled by. I have tried D2 and also going out in the sun more and my levels actually dropped. So I don't want to play with fire on this. Gary Francione made a statement that in some instances it is morally excusable to not be pure vegan ... i.e., your cat does not do well on a vegan diet, or compromising one's health. Anyway, I'm curious about the Deva supplement you take. I just hear across the board with mainstream doctors that D2 just doesn't cut it. Best to you "In their behavior toward creatures, all men are Nazis. Human beings see oppression vividly when they're the victims. Otherwise they victimize blindly and without a thought." Isaac Bashevis Singer, author, Nobel Prize 1978
	Edited 01/07/10 8:36 PM Quote | Send PM | Link | Top | Bottom
shanna Joined: 12/30/09 Posts: 287	RE: Vegan sources of Vitamin D? Posted Friday, January 8, 2010 at 12:15 PM Hi revolutionoftheheart, Sorry, I didn't see this until now. Yes, I always request a full blood panel at my annual checkups. My levels have always been fine. I switched to plant milks and stopped using butter long before I went vegan--about 14 years ago--though I continued to eat some cheese until my vegan switch 2 years ago. Dairy milk (where the D is a supplement, not an inherent ingredient) and sunshine provide most people's D. So I must be getting enough D2 and sunshine. I didn't mean to imply I take extra supplements, just that D2 is included in my vegan multivitamin, which I take as "insurance." So that's what works for me. I do also spend lots of time outdoors, except in the winter. I am also fair-skinned and always have on sunscreen, which I've read various things about. But everyone is different and of course I agree that in situations of medical necessity there's no ethical problem with seeking treatment even if it happens to involve animal ingredients or testing. (And I am not in the habit of judging other people for their ethical choices, even if I would love everyone in the world to be vegan. ) Animal testing is very hard to avoid if you take any prescriptions, though PCRM and other orgs are making great efforts to prove animal trials are not reliable or necessary in many cases. So I am hopeful that eventually this will be easier to avoid also. Right now I take no prescriptions. My husband does, and he is also vegan, but without them he would be endangering his health. That's an easy choice to make. Cheers. I love the thoughtfulness displayed by everyone on these boards.
	Edited 01/08/10 12:16 PM Quote | Send PM | Link | Top | Bottom

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