Keimyung University Professor Sambin Lee’s team, analysis results of 181 types of high-consumption foods
[현대건강신문=채수정 기자] Vitamin D is known as a nutrient that greatly affects the activities of the innate immune system as well as various immune responses in the body. In particular, when there is a study showing that vitamin D is also related to the rate and severity of COVID-19 infection, it is attracting more attention.
Recently, it is common worldwide and the association between vitamin D deficiency and various diseases is known. Vitamin D is traditionally known to play an important role in calcium homeostasis and bone metabolism. However, as the effect of vitamin D was discovered not only in the musculoskeletal system, but also in various tissues and cells in the human body, other roles of vitamin D were noticed.
Various studies have been published that vitamin D is related to chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease, and cancer. For this reason, it is necessary to supplement with vitamin D to prevent chronic diseases.
The ideal way to supplement your vitamin D is, of course, from natural sunlight. Vitamin D, made in the skin through sunlight, lasts longer in the blood than vitamin D from food or vitamin D from supplements. However, individual differences such as the amount of time they receive sunlight, various natural conditions and skin color, and skin sensitivity should also be taken into account.
In particular, as we age, our skin’s ability to synthesize vitamin D from sunlight decreases. Even with the same amount of sunlight, the elderly can only make about 25% of the vitamin D that young people make. Therefore, the older you are, the more you need to supplement with vitamin D.
Vitamin D intake from food is not much, but vitamin D intake through food is considered to be limited in Korea. Accordingly, according to the ‘Osteoporosis Treatment Guidelines 2019’ of the Korean Society of Bone Metabolism, the daily intake of vitamin D to prevent and treat osteoporosis 800IU (20㎍) or more is recommended.
Foods rich in vitamin D include fatty fish such as salmon, blue fish, animal liver, egg yolk, mushrooms, milk, soybean drinks, and margarine. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, so it should be taken with fat or oil to increase absorption.
It was found that the highest vitamin D content among the high-consumption foods that Koreans enjoy eating is cypress mushroom. Among animal products, eggs were number one.
This result was found as a result of analyzing the vitamin D content of a total of 181 types of foods, including cereals and related products, that Koreans enjoy eating by Professor Sambin Lee’s team at Keimyung University. The results of this study were published in the latest issue of the Journal of the Korean Society for Food Storage and Distribution, and were introduced by the Korea Food Communication Forum.
Among the 181 foods analyzed by Professor Lee’s team, only 16 types (9%) had vitamin D detected even in small amounts. This means that there are not many types of foods containing vitamin D.
As a result of the analysis, the vitamin D (vegetable vitamin D, vitamin D2 content of 148㎍) per 100g of naturally dried shiitake mushrooms was the highest, followed by naturally dried shiitake mushrooms (78㎍), naturally dried shiitake mushrooms, and naturally dried large oyster mushrooms.
The high content of vitamin D in naturally dried mushrooms is believed to have been converted into vitamin D during the process of drying the mushrooms in the sun.
The content of animal vitamin D, vitamin D3, reached the highest level of 7 μg per 100 g in egg yolk (pidan). Among seafood and other aquatic products, the vitamin D content of canned salmon (whole/solid) and smoked salmon (raw) was 7~9㎍.
Vitamin D is one of the fat-soluble vitamins and exists in the body in the form of vitamin D2 and vitamin D3.
Vitamin D2 is mainly synthesized in plants, and vitamin D3 is synthesized mainly in the skin when exposed to ultraviolet B rays.
Professor Lee’s team pointed out in the paper, “Vitamin D regulates calcium metabolism and is a nutrient necessary for the normal development of muscles and bones.”
Recently, the preventive effect of vitamin D against cardiovascular diseases, various infectious diseases, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cancer, and autoimmune diseases has been revealed one after another. The lower the level of vitamin D in the blood, the greater the risk of COVID-19 infection and the higher the fatality rate, according to a study.
Oyster mushroom contains 43.6% of beta-glucan, which increases immune activity to withstand flu and various diseases, and has about 10 times more ingredients than Reishi and Sanghwang mushrooms, which are famous medicinal mushrooms. there is.