USDA’s National Nutrient Database – the foundation of most food and nutrition databases in the U.S. – has been updated to include vitamin D values of 2,900 foods and fresh mushrooms are the only fruit or vegetable with natural vitamin D. Please click here to view our press release.
Check out the resources below for more information on vitamin D.
Mushrooms are the only fresh vegetable or fruit with vitamin D. Similar to the way that humans absorb sunlight and convert it to vitamin D, mushrooms contain a plant sterol—ergosterol—that converts to vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. The top three selling mushroom varieties (button, crimini and portabella) have vitamin D ranging from 1 to 97 percent of the Daily Value (400 IU) per raw 84 gram serving4.
Vitamin D is an important nutrient that many people do not get enough of10. While most people recognize that vitamin D is essential for healthy teeth and bones, few may know that vitamin D may also help support a healthy immune system11. Scientists are currently exploring links between low vitamin D status and increased risk for a number of chronic diseases12 13 14. An emerging body of science, including laboratory, animal and epidemiological studies, suggests that higher intakes of vitamin D may be protective against some cancers, including pancreatic, breast, colon and colorectal cancers15 16 17 18.
The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans declared that some populations, including older adults, people with dark skin and people exposed to insufficient ultraviolet band radiation (i.e., sunlight), need to increase their intake of vitamin D. Other people who are at risk for vitamin D deficiency include children and obese individuals11. Therefore, it is critical now more than ever to ensure Americans know how to get the vitamin D they need. The main source of vitamin D for individuals comes from sun exposure, which is a challenge for those in colder climates, people with dark skin, the elderly and those who wear sunscreen. Another major source of vitamin D is food, which is recommended over supplements by many experts and government leaders.
Interest in mushrooms as a source of vitamin D was furthered by the Food and Drug Administration Center for Science and Applied Nutrition’s (FDA CFSAN). The scientists proposed to optimize vitamin D content of mushrooms through exposure to light and to test their ability to increase disease resistance and regulate immune response and breast tumor development. A pilot study was undertaken to demonstrate that exposure of mushrooms to as little as 5 minutes of UV light produced a significant quantity of vitamin D2, and that this inexpensive process could provide a significant, unique plant source of vitamin D for vegetarians and individuals who do not drink milk, the major fortified food source19. Research on vitamin D mushrooms and disease resistance continues.
Mushroom growers have the unique ability to increase levels of vitamin D in white mushrooms to up to 100 percent of the recommended amount needed per day. An increasing number of mushroom growers are now exposing their product to ultraviolet light to increase the vitamin D levels.
1 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory. 2009. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 22. www.ars.usda.gov/nutrientdata
2 U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005. Chapter 2
3 Office of Dietary Supplements. Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet Vitamin D. http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp
4 Zitterman A, Koerfer R. Vitamin D in the prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2008 Nov;11(6):752-7.
5 Bailey R, et al. Association of the vitamin D metabolism gene CYP27B1 with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes, 2007 Oct;56(10):2616-21. Epub 2007 Jul 2.
6 Munger KL, et al. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and risk of multiple sclerosis. JAMA, 2006 Dec 20;296(23):2832-8.
7 Skinner HG, Michaud DS, Giovannucci E, Willett WC, et al. Vitamin D intake and the risk for pancreatic cancer in two cohort studies. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2006; 15(9):1688-1695.
8 Giovannucci E, Lui Y, Rimm EB, Hollis BW, et al. Prospective study of predictors of vitamin D status and cancer incidence and mortality in men. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2006;98:451-9.
9 Spina CS, et al. Vitamin D and cancer. Anticancer Res. 2006;26(4A):2515-24.
10 Palmieri C, MacGregor T, Girgis S, Vigushin D. Serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D levels in early and advanced breast cancer. J Clin Pathol. 2006; online edition: http://jcp.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/59/12/1334.
11 Calvo M, Garthoff LH, Raybourne RB, Babu US, Kelly C, Lodder S, et al. FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the Mushroom Council Collaborate to Optimize the Natural Vitamin D Content of Edible Mushrooms and to Examine their Health Benefits in Different Rodent Models of Innate Immunity. Presented at 2006 FDA Science Forum A Century of FDA Science: Pioneering the Future of Public Health. April 18-20, 2006, Washington Convention Center. Abstract, http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/scienceforum/sf2006/search/preview.cfm?keyword=Calvo&abstract_id=733&type=coauthor&backto=search
