What Are the Vitamin D Foods for Vegetarians?

Vegetarians can be classified into different groups based on how restrictive their diets are when it comes to animal foods. The more restrictive they are the more they have to be cautious about not becoming deficient in certain nutrients such as protein, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B 12, etc.

Different types of vegetarians:

1. Vegans:

Vegans restrict their diet to plant foods. For example, cereal grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes. They may have to take supplements to meet recommended dietary allowanced of certain nutrients.

2. Lacto-vegetarians:

These people include milk and dairy products to a vegan diet. Milk is a complete source of protein. Also, dairy products are good sources of calcium. Dairy products make meeting nutrient recommendations a little easier for this group.

3. Ovo-vegetarians:

This group of people includes eggs in their diet.  Eggs make it easier for them to meet nutrient recommendations.

4. Lacto-ovo-vegetarians:

This group of people can include dairy products and eggs in their diet. It is quite easy to meet all the nutritional requirements for this group of people.

Irrespective of the category, each of them needs to be aware of the available vitamin D foods for vegetarians.

How much vitamin D do we need?

The units used to measure vitamin D are micrograms (µg) and also International Units (IU). One microgram of vitamin D is equal to 40 IU of vitamin D. 

The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin D is 600 IU for adults and for pregnant and lactating women it is 800 IU.

Vitamin D foods for vegetarians:

1. Mushrooms 

Mushrooms are good sources of vitamin D. But most vegetarians do not eat mushrooms because they do not like the texture. But some of them do and for those mushrooms can be a blessing as far as vitamin D is concerned.  Mushrooms are one of the best vitamin d foods for vegetarians. The amount of vitamin D present in different types of mushrooms is listed below.

• Vitamin D/100grams
• Raw Crimini Mushrooms (Exposed to Sunlight or UV): 31.9 µg / 100 grams
• Raw Portabellas (Exposed to Sunlight or UV) : 28.4 µg / 100 grams
• Maitake Mushrooms: 28.1 µg / 100 grams
• Raw White Button Mushrooms (Exposed to Sunlight or UV) : 26.2 µg /100 grams
• Portobellos (Exposed to Sunlight or UV): 13.1 µg /100 grams
• Chantarelle Mushrooms: 5.3 µg /100 grams
• Morel Mushrooms: 5.1 µg / 100 grams

2. Milk and milk products

Milk and milk products are a few common vitamin d foods for vegetarians. Lacto-vegetarians and lacto-ovo-vegetarians both consume milk and milk products. Milk and milk products are fair sources of vitamin D and other vitamin D containing foods may help in meeting vitamin D requirements. 

• Vitamin D/100 grams of the milk product
• Dehydrated milk: 10.5 µg
• Evaporated milk: 2 µg 
• Whole milk and buttermilk: 1.3 µg 
• Skim milk: 1.2 µg.

Cheese also is a fair source of vitamin D. Different cheese supply different amounts of vitamin D. 

• Vitamin D/100grams of cheese
• American cheese: 2.5 µg 
• Cheddar cheese: 0.6 µg
• Mozzarella cheese: 0.4 µg

3. Egg

Eggs contain about 2 µg of vitamin D per 100 grams. Ovo-vegetarians and lacto-ovo-vegetarians consume eggs. But how much vitamin D they get from eggs is a point to be considered. 

A lot of these people do not mind eating foods in which egg is added such as pastries, desserts, etc but to eat an omelette or boiled egg they are a little fussy.  but if you could figure out the right amount of intake based on your requirement eggs are very good vitamin d foods for vegetarians.

4. Rich chocolate powder

The chocolate powder contains 9 µg of vitamin D per 100 grams. But how much chocolate powder does one eat every day? It is a good source but on a daily basis, not many people consume chocolate powder.

5. Vitamin D fortified food

Keeping vegans and vegetarian populations in mind there are several vitamin d foods for vegetarians which are fortified with vitamin D such as milk, orange juice and some bread and cereals.

Fortified milk and fortified orange juice contain 1.3 µg and 1 µg vitamin D per 100 grams respectively. Fortified breakfast cereals provide about 2.5 mg vitamin D per serving.

Final word

For vegetarians, especially for vegans, fortified foods seem to be a good source of vitamin D. Eat a variety of these foods to get the RDA of vitamin D along with the above-listed vitamin d foods for vegetarians.

Also spending time outdoors in the sun would be a good idea to get the requirement of vitamin D fulfilled.