Orange Juice is A Good Source of Vitamin D

Orange Juice is A Good Source of Vitamin D
Posted by Kristie on May 9, 2010


Vitamin D has been found to provide numerous health benefits, from promoting bone health to possibly lowering the risk of certain cancers and autoimmune diseases. The problem is that there are not many sources of this vitamin that is essential for our health. But researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine have found another source-orange juice fortified with the vitamin D.

Vitamin D is one of four vitamins that are fat soluble, meaning it is dissolved and stored in fat before being released into the blood. (A, E and K are the other three). It can be found in oily fish like salmon and tuna, eggs, and is put in products like cereal and milk. Vitamin D is also produced in our skin when spending time in sun, but a lot of factors determine how much time each individual needs. It is converted into an active form in the body.
Researchers were concerned that because orange juice does not have fat, this would not be a good way to give it to people. So researchers recruited about 100 adults and put them into one of four groups. The groups were: drinking juice fortified with 1,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D, orange juice with no vitamin D, a capsule with vitamin D or a placebo.
The participants were monitored for vitamin D levels over 11 weeks. Those who has fortified juice or took the capsule significantly increased their levels over the course of the study.
85% of the participants had vitamin D levels way below the minimum necessary for good health when they started the study but the results showed that orange juice can raise levels as good as supplements can. Milk has been fortified with vitamin D since the 1930s, but more people have a glass of orange juice in the morning than drink milk says Dr. Michael Holick, the author of this study.
Holick says that adults should get 2000 IU of vitamin D a day, while children should get 1000 IU.
The compete study and results can be found in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. [Yahoo! Reuters]
Image from Agricultural Research Service, the research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture.