It has been found that the highest vitamin D content among high-consumption foods that Koreans enjoy eating is cypress mushroom. Among animal products, eggs were number one.
A research team led by Professor Sambin Lee of Keimyung University found that Koreans enjoy various foods such as cereals and related products (45 types), beans (12 types), mushrooms (36 types), meat (9 types), eggs (1 type), dairy products (3 types), etc. This was revealed as a result of analyzing the content of a total of 181 types of vitamin D. The results of this study (analysis of vitamin D content in highly consumed foods) were published in the latest issue of the Journal of the Korean Society for Food Storage and Distribution.
Among the 181 foods analyzed by Professor Lee’s team, only 16 (9%) of them 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 content of vitamin D (vitamin D2, a vegetable vitamin D) per 100g of naturally dried cypress mushroom was the highest at 148㎍. Next was naturally dried shiitake (78㎍), naturally dried oyster mushroom, and naturally dried large oyster mushroom. The high content of vitamin D in naturally dried mushrooms is believed to have been converted to 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 on 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, a study found. Professor Lee’s team explained, “Koreans’ vitamin D deficiency/deficiency state is serious, especially women, and people in their 20s are the most vulnerable compared to men.”
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