Vitamin D Foods: Top Sources and Amounts

Cod liver oil gives 34.0 mcg (1,360 IU) of vitamin D per tablespoon, farmed rainbow trout 16.2 mcg and cooked sockeye salmon 14.2 mcg per 3 ounces¹. UV-exposed mushrooms and fortified milk follow. Adults need 15 mcg (600 IU) a day, yet 92% of U.S. men and over 97% of women eat under 10 mcg from food¹.

Food reaches 15 mcg on a day with a serving of trout or salmon, but average U.S. intake from food is only about 4 to 5 mcg¹. A meta-analysis of fish trials concluded that recommended fish intakes cannot optimize vitamin D status². Cod liver oil is the most concentrated source, but a tablespoon also exceeds the adult upper limit for preformed vitamin A^{3, 4}. Most people also need fortified foods, some sun (weighed against skin-cancer risk) or a vitamin D supplement¹.

Fish and fish liver oils are the highest natural sources, and NIH names trout, salmon, tuna and mackerel among the fatty fish. The USDA values that NIH publishes per serving give this ranking¹:

• Cod liver oil, 1 tablespoon: 34.0 mcg (1,360 IU), 170% of the Daily Value.
• Rainbow trout, farmed, cooked, 3 ounces: 16.2 mcg (645 IU), 81%.
• Sockeye salmon, cooked, 3 ounces: 14.2 mcg (570 IU), 71%.
• White mushrooms exposed to UV light, raw, sliced, ½ cup: 9.2 mcg (366 IU), 46%.
• Sardines, canned in oil, 2 fish: 1.2 mcg (46 IU), 6%.
• Light tuna, canned in water, 3 ounces: 1.0 mcg (40 IU), 5%.

Foods that provide 20% or more of the Daily Value count as high sources, and the Daily Value for vitamin D is 20 mcg, above the 15 mcg adult RDA¹. Only the first four on the list reach that bar.

Cod liver oil has a catch. One tablespoon also holds about 4,080 mcg of preformed vitamin A (retinol)³, above the 3,000 mcg daily upper limit for adults, which also applies in pregnancy⁴. Preformed vitamin A above that limit can cause birth defects, and experts advise anyone who is or might be pregnant, or is breastfeeding, not to take more than 3,000 mcg a day from supplements⁴. A teaspoon gives about 11 mcg of vitamin D and 1,350 mcg of vitamin A³.

Mushrooms need a note. Ordinary supermarket mushrooms have little vitamin D: portabella mushrooms, raw and diced, give 0.1 mcg per half cup¹. The 9.2 mcg figure applies only to mushrooms treated with UV light, which the label should say.

Most common foods contribute small amounts. These are the typical servings, from the same NIH table¹:

• Ready-to-eat cereal fortified with 10% of the Daily Value, 1 serving: 2.0 mcg (80 IU).
• Egg, 1 large, scrambled: 1.1 mcg (44 IU). The vitamin is in the yolk.
• Beef liver, braised, 3 ounces: 1.0 mcg (42 IU).
• Cheddar cheese, 1.5 ounces: 0.4 mcg (17 IU).
• Chicken breast, roasted, 3 ounces: 0.1 mcg (4 IU).
• Ground beef, 90% lean, broiled, 3 ounces: 0 mcg (1.7 IU).

Fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and whole grains contain essentially none. Broccoli, carrots, almonds, apples, bananas, brown rice, lentils and edamame all list 0 mcg per serving¹. Mushrooms are the exception, and they are fungi rather than plants: they provide variable amounts of vitamin D2, and much more when treated with UV light¹.

Animal foods also carry some vitamin D as 25(OH)D, the form the liver makes, and researchers are still working out how much it matters. One study found that counting it makes the total in beef, pork, chicken, turkey and eggs 2 to 18 times higher than the parent vitamin alone, depending on the food, and 25(OH)D appears to be about five times more potent at raising blood levels¹. Standard food tables leave it out, so they may understate these foods.

Fortified milk and plant milks are the main drinks with vitamin D, and they hold similar amounts. Almost all U.S. milk is voluntarily fortified with about 2.9 to 3 mcg a cup (120 IU), usually as vitamin D3, while fortified plant milks range from 2.5 to 3.6 mcg, so the best-fortified plant milks edge out cow’s milk¹. No drink in NIH’s table reaches the 20% of the Daily Value that counts as a high source¹.

• Cow’s milk, 2% fat, fortified, 1 cup: 2.9 mcg (120 IU), 15% of the Daily Value¹.
• Soy, almond and oat milks, fortified, 1 cup: 2.5 to 3.6 mcg (100 to 144 IU), 13% to 18%¹. The range depends on brand, so read the Nutrition Facts label.
• Orange juice, yogurt and margarine: some products are fortified and others are not¹.

Does Greek yogurt contain vitamin D? Unfortified yogurt has little. NIH notes that other dairy foods made from milk, such as cheese and ice cream, are not usually fortified in the United States or Canada¹. Check the label for a vitamin D line before counting yogurt.

Yes, though usual portions have a modest effect, and the gain is largest when your level starts low. The trials measure serum 25(OH)D, the standard blood marker of vitamin D status¹.

Fish

A 2015 meta-analysis of randomized trials covered 640 people and 9 studies. Eating fish raised 25(OH)D by 4.4 nmol/L on average. Fatty fish raised it by 6.8 nmol/L, while lean fish gave 1.9 nmol/L, a result that was not statistically significant². The authors concluded that recommended fish intakes cannot optimize vitamin D status².

An 8-week trial in 120 women aged 20 to 25 gave about 5 mcg of vitamin D a day from smoked salmon or salmon sausage. It ran in autumn, and every group’s 25(OH)D still fell. The fall was smaller with salmon sausage than in controls (4.3 versus 15.0 nmol/L), and smoked salmon did not differ from controls⁵. About 5 mcg a day from salmon, a third of the adult RDA, was not enough to stop the autumn decline^{5, 1}.

UV-exposed mushrooms

A systematic review of 6 randomized trials found no significant overall rise in 25(OH)D (I² = 87%). In the 3 European trials, whose volunteers started at 38.6 nmol/L, mushrooms raised it by 15.2 nmol/L. In the 3 U.S. trials, with a baseline of 81.5 nmol/L, there was no significant effect⁶. Mushrooms supply vitamin D2, which raised 25(OH)D2 while lowering 25(OH)D3 in the same trials⁶. They help most when your level is low to begin with.

Eggs and other fortified foods

An 8-week winter trial in 55 adults aged 45 to 70 used eggs from hens fed extra vitamin D. Seven enhanced eggs a week held 25(OH)D steady, while the control group dropped by 6.4 nmol/L⁷. These were specially produced eggs, not standard supermarket eggs, so the result does not transfer to ordinary eggs.

A meta-analysis of 34 publications (2,398 adults and 1,532 children) tested fortified and biofortified foods at an average of 16.2 mcg a day, more than five times the 2.9 mcg in a cup of fortified milk^{8, 1}. Blood levels ended 21.2 nmol/L higher than in control groups, with larger gains in people who started below 50 nmol/L⁸. Heterogeneity was high, so treat that number as a guide rather than a promise⁸.

Most people in the United States do not. In 2015-2016 NHANES data, average intake from food and drinks was 5.1 mcg a day for men and 4.2 mcg for women, against an RDA of 15 mcg¹. Adding supplements lifted average intake from 4.8 mcg to 19.9 mcg for people aged 2 and older¹.

Blood levels are usually better than intake suggests, because sunlight also makes vitamin D in the skin¹. NIH also states that getting enough from unfortified food alone is difficult¹.

Is 2 eggs a day enough vitamin D?

No. Two scrambled eggs give 2.2 mcg (88 IU), about 15% of the 15 mcg RDA¹. The 2016 trial above used 7 specially enhanced eggs a week, not 14 ordinary ones⁷.

What does a day that reaches the target look like?

These sums use the NIH serving values¹:

• With fatty fish: 3 ounces of cooked sockeye salmon (14.2 mcg), 1 cup of fortified milk (2.9 mcg) and 1 egg (1.1 mcg) total 18.2 mcg, above the 15 mcg RDA.
• Without salmon or trout: cereal fortified at 10% of the Daily Value (2.0 mcg), 1 cup of milk (2.9 mcg), 2 eggs (2.2 mcg) and 3 ounces of light tuna (1.0 mcg) total 8.1 mcg, a little over half the RDA.
• With UV mushrooms: ½ cup of UV-exposed mushrooms (9.2 mcg) plus 1 cup of milk (2.9 mcg) and 1 egg (1.1 mcg) total 13.2 mcg.

People over 70 need 20 mcg (800 IU), so the fish-based day reaches about 91% of their target¹.

Fat helps, but you do not need to engineer your meals around it. In a trial of 50 older adults, one 50,000 IU dose of vitamin D3 gave a 32% higher peak of vitamin D3 in the blood, a measure of absorption, with a fat-containing breakfast than with a fat-free one. The type of fat (more monounsaturated or more polyunsaturated) made no difference⁹.

A 90-day trial in 62 older adults found that absorption of a monthly 50,000 IU dose was highest with a low-fat meal. Yet 25(OH)D at day 30 and day 90 did not differ between the no-meal, low-fat and high-fat groups¹⁰. Fatty fish, eggs and whole milk already bring their own fat, and the long-run effect of meal fat on your blood level looks small.

Fat malabsorption is a different matter. Vitamin D absorption depends on the gut’s ability to absorb fat, and conditions such as cystic fibrosis, celiac disease and Crohn’s disease impair it. NIH says people with these conditions may need a supplement¹. Our guide to fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins explains why.

Nothing literally “drains” it, but several conditions and medicines lower your level or block what you eat. Low status matters because vitamin D helps the gut absorb calcium so bone can mineralize, and deficiency causes rickets in children and osteomalacia, soft and weakened bone, in adolescents and adults¹. NIH lists these groups as more likely to have inadequate status¹:

• Breastfed infants: human milk provides less than 0.6 to 2.0 mcg per liter, so the American Academy of Pediatrics advises 10 mcg (400 IU) a day as a supplement unless formula or milk reaches 1,000 mL a day. It also advises keeping infants under 6 months out of direct sunlight.
• Older adults: skin makes less vitamin D with age, and many spend more time indoors.
• People with dark skin: melanin reduces the skin’s production from sunlight.
• People with obesity or gastric bypass: stored body fat sequesters the vitamin, and bypass surgery skips part of the intestine that absorbs it.
• People with fat malabsorption: see the section above.

Medicines matter too. NIH gives four examples. Orlistat reduces absorption of vitamin D from food and supplements, corticosteroids can impair its metabolism, and thiazide diuretics combined with vitamin D supplements might lead to high blood calcium¹. Statins may lower vitamin D synthesis, and high vitamin D intakes, especially from supplements, might make atorvastatin, lovastatin and simvastatin less effective¹.

NIH presents these as a few examples and advises anyone taking these or other medicines regularly to discuss vitamin D with their health care provider¹. A 2013 systematic review adds that drugs which inhibit the enzyme CYP3A4, including the blood pressure drugs diltiazem and verapamil, could in theory change how the body makes and breaks down 25(OH)D, and its authors called for larger studies¹¹. Ask your pharmacist about any regular medicine before adding supplements.

These diets lose the main fortified source, so deficiency is more common. NIH reports that low intake is more frequent in people with lactose intolerance, milk allergy, or an ovo-vegetarian or vegan diet¹.

The plant-based options are fortified soy, almond or oat milk (2.5 to 3.6 mcg a cup), fortified cereals and UV-exposed mushrooms¹. Mushrooms provide vitamin D2 rather than D3¹. A meta-analysis of trials comparing the two forms in supplements found D3 raised 25(OH)D more than D2 overall, but the difference disappeared with daily dosing¹². The comparison was in supplements, so it does not settle whether D2 from mushrooms behaves the same way.

Supplements contain either form. Most vitamin D3 is made from lanolin in sheep’s wool, while vitamin D2, made from yeast, and a lichen-derived D3 are animal-free options¹.

If you cannot tolerate dairy, our guide to calcium-rich foods covers the matching bone nutrient, and the page on lactose intolerance covers the condition itself.

Use food first, then add a supplement if you fit one of these cases:

• You rarely eat fatty fish and drink little fortified milk. Your intake is likely near the 4 to 5 mcg average, far from 15 mcg¹.
• You are in a risk group above (infant, older adult, dark skin, obesity, malabsorption, limited sun).
• A blood test shows a low 25(OH)D¹. Our page on vitamin D deficiency and the vitamin D for deficiency evidence page cover testing and correction.

Vitamin D from ordinary food is very unlikely to cause harm. NIH states that toxicity is almost always the result of excessive supplement intakes. The Tolerable Upper Intake Level is 100 mcg (4,000 IU) a day for adults and children aged 9 and older, and lower for younger children: 25 mcg (1,000 IU) up to 6 months, rising to 75 mcg (3,000 IU) at 4 to 8 years¹.

The foods to watch are cod liver oil and liver, for their vitamin A rather than their vitamin D. Pan-fried beef liver supplies 6,582 mcg RAE of vitamin A per 3 ounces, more than twice the 3,000 mcg adult upper limit for preformed vitamin A⁴, and a tablespoon of cod liver oil supplies about 4,080 mcg³. Preformed vitamin A above that limit can cause birth defects, so anyone who is or might be pregnant should ask a clinician before eating liver or taking cod liver oil regularly⁴.

Combining vitamin D with calcium or vitamin K raises its own questions. See our guide to taking them together and our calcium page. For bone outcomes, see bone health and osteoporosis.

Supplements in this guide

• Vitamin D
• Calcium
• Vitamin K2
• Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Related conditions

• Vitamin D Deficiency
• Malabsorption
• Osteoporosis

We read the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements fact sheets for vitamin D and vitamin A, which publish USDA FoodData Central serving values, and the FoodData Central entry for cod liver oil. We searched PubMed for systematic reviews and randomized trials on fish, mushrooms, eggs, fortified foods, vitamin D2 versus D3, dietary fat and absorption, and drug interactions. We read 9 studies and cited all of them, alongside the 2 NIH fact sheets and the USDA entry. We prioritized meta-analyses and randomized trials in adults. The evidence cannot tell you how much a typical supermarket egg or mushroom raises blood levels, and it gives no clear answer on whether D2 from mushrooms matches D3 from animal foods. Researched October 14, 2026. Corrected the same day after an independent review: we fixed the ranking of top foods, added the vitamin A limit for cod liver oil and liver, and expanded the medicine interactions.

1. National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. Vitamin D: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/
2. Lehmann U, et al. Efficacy of fish intake on vitamin D status: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102(4):837-47. doi:10.3945/ajcn.114.105395
3. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central: Fish oil, cod liver (SR Legacy, FDC ID 173577). https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/173577/nutrients
4. National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. Vitamin A and Carotenoids: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-HealthProfessional/
5. Utri-Khodadady Z, et al. Effect of Consuming Salmon Products on Vitamin D Status of Young Caucasian Women in Autumn-A Randomized 8-Week Dietary VISA 2 (Vitamin D in Salmon Part 2) Intervention Study. Nutrients. 2024;16(20). doi:10.3390/nu16203565
6. Cashman KD, et al. Effect of Ultraviolet Light-Exposed Mushrooms on Vitamin D Status: Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Reanalysis of Biobanked Sera from a Randomized Controlled Trial and a Systematic Review plus Meta-Analysis. J Nutr. 2016;146(3):565-75. doi:10.3945/jn.115.223784
7. Hayes A, et al. Vitamin D-enhanced eggs are protective of wintertime serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D in a randomized controlled trial of adults. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016;104(3):629-37. doi:10.3945/ajcn.116.132530
8. Dunlop E, et al. Vitamin D Food Fortification and Biofortification Increases Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations in Adults and Children: An Updated and Extended Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. J Nutr. 2021;151(9):2622-2635. doi:10.1093/jn/nxab180
9. Dawson-Hughes B, et al. Dietary fat increases vitamin D-3 absorption. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2015;115(2):225-230. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2014.09.014
10. Dawson-Hughes B, et al. Meal conditions affect the absorption of supplemental vitamin D3 but not the plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D response to supplementation. J Bone Miner Res. 2013;28(8):1778-83. doi:10.1002/jbmr.1896
11. Robien K, et al. Drug-vitamin D interactions: a systematic review of the literature. Nutr Clin Pract. 2013;28(2):194-208. doi:10.1177/0884533612467824
12. Tripkovic L, et al. Comparison of vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 supplementation in raising serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D status: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012;95(6):1357-64. doi:10.3945/ajcn.111.031070 Our study summary.