Vitamin D as food additive

Many foods contain added vitamins and minerals that might not be in a person’s diet or that have been destroyed or lost in processing. Common nutritional additives include vitamin D in milk, vitamin A in margarine, vitamin C in fruit drinks, and iodine in salt.

Vitamin D is a nutrient found in some foods that is needed for health and to maintain strong bones. It does so by helping the body absorb calcium (one of bone’s main building blocks) from food and supplements.

The main sources of natural vitamin D are fatty fish, such as salmon, mackerel or tuna, mushrooms and also egg yolks. Vitamin D can also be obtained from food fortified with vitamin D, such as cereal products, bakery products, baby food, butter, and margarine. The most commonly used vehicles for vitamin D fortification are dairy products (milk, cheese and yogurt). Bread fortified with vitamin D could serve as a good source of vitamin D due to its common consumption.

Such fortification has helped prevent nutritional deficiency diseases that were once common, such as rickets (due to deficiency of vitamin D).
Vitamin D as food additive