Is Vitamin D3 Plant Based?

Anybody starting on a plant-based diet would naturally wonder whether they are getting all the vitamins and minerals in the right amount from the new diet. A plant-based diet may stress enough on vitamin B12 and protein but an essential nutrient that might miss out is vitamin D3.

So, is vitamin D3 plant based? No, vitamin D3 supplements available in the market in the form of pills and capsules are not plan based. Vitamin D3 supplements are generally made in laboratory settings using products obtained from animals.

Below, let us try to find out whether you can find a substitute for vitamin D3 to get this nutrient on a plant-based diet. 

Top 3 Vitamin D3 Substitutes For A Plant Based Diet

There are several types of vitamin D3 supplements available in the market. While there are supplement brands that offer vitamin D3 supplements derived from lichens to suit a plant-based diet, it is best to rely on natural, whole, plant sources. Foods like mushrooms are naturally rich in this vitamin and can deliver the required amount from your everyday diet. 

Mushrooms

Certain types of mushrooms like button, shitake, morel and portobello are the best sources of vitamin D. placing them in the sunlight maximizes the amount of vitamin D3 you can obtain from them. For example, wild mushrooms as well as those exposed to UV light contain anywhere between 155 and 1140 IU of vitamin D per 100-gram serving. 

Moreover, the vitamin D content in mushrooms lives for the duration of their shelf life. They are known to be as effective as supplements at boosting the levels of this vitamin in the body. Most commercially sold mushrooms are grown in the dark and are not exposed to sunlight, so they may not contain so much vitamin D. you should check the label for their vitamin D3 content before shopping. 

Apart from this, mushrooms also contain many essential nutrients that improve health and provide a plethora of benefits, making them an excellent plant-based supplementation for vitamin D3.

Tofu

Another vitamin D3 supplement is tofu which is an excellent source of several minerals and vitamins. It has a versatile profile that lets you consume it in many ways in everyday diet. Tofu is not only rich in nutrients like zinc, calcium, protein and omega-3 fatty acids but is a great source of vitamin D. When included in a plant-based diet, tofu can deliver almost 30% of the daily recommended intake of vitamin D. What more, you can find a variety of plant-based foods in the market to make it easy to consume it as a part of your daily diet.