Vitamin D: an important vitamin for maintaining healthy bones, teeth and muscles and supporting your immune system. You know that you need enough vitamin D for your health. But where do we get our vitamin D3 from? What foods contain vitamin D3?
Vitamin D produced by the sun
Vitamin D is produced in the skin under the influence of sunlight. It is therefore recommended to sit in the sun for 15 to 30 minutes daily (between 11:00 and 15:00) with your head and hands exposed. It is nice advice, but when you are confined to the Netherlands or Belgium, that is quite a task. The strength of the sun is not very strong here every day. Fortunately, you can also obtain vitamin D3 from food or supplements.
Vitamin D3 in your food
Vitamin D is not naturally found in very many food products, so sunlight is your most important source of this vitamin; but it does occur in small amounts in food. Vitamin D occurs in two different forms in our food. Namely vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol).
Want to know more about the difference between vitamin D and D3? Read it in our earlier blog post.
While vitamin D2 comes from plant-based foods, vitamin D3 is found in animal products. Think of fish, meat, eggs, but also margarine and spreadable margarine. Oily fish is by far the largest source of vitamin D3. Such as salmon, eel, mackerel, sprats or herring. If you are not squeamish about a piece of fish, we do recommend going for organically farmed fish. These fish get enough space to swim, live in clean water and eat only organic fish feed. This feed must not contain artificial hormones that you would otherwise also get in your body.
Of course, you may not eat or eat few animal products. This means you also get less vitamin D through food. Even less, because as mentioned earlier: the sun is the most important trigger for our body to switch to our own natural vitamin D3 production. Fortunately, there are now vitamin D3 supplements that are completely vegan, which you can use to supplement your healthy diet and lifestyle. This ensures that your vitamin D level remains at the right level.
Vegan D3 vitamins
At OvaBalance, all supplements are vegan. So you can enjoy the benefits of the supplements with peace of mind. The vitamin D3 from Ovabalance is therefore also called D3V. Vitamin D3V is produced from algae. It has been shown that D3V is chemically identical to vitamin D3. Because the vegan vitamin D3 is obtained from algae, instead of the usual sheep's wool, the chance of residual pesticides is also completely absent.
In short, vitamin D3 can be obtained in several ways. Whether you choose to spend the winter in Spain or take additional supplements. Your body will thank you!
