{"id":723256,"date":"2026-06-08T15:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/723256\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T15:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:03:12","slug":"is-there-a-right-time-to-take-vitamin-d-heres-what-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/723256\/","title":{"rendered":"Is There a Right Time to Take Vitamin D? Here’s What Experts Say"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re going to shell out on an entire pill organizer\u2019s worth of daily supplements<\/a>, you probably want to know the best way and time of day to take all of them. After all, there’s no point in spending money on a curated regimen of vitamins and minerals, only to miss out on their benefits by taking too little, or to end up peeing them out by taking too much.<\/p>\n

So it’s no surprise that people are curious about the best time to take<\/a> probiotics, vitamins, and other supplements, as well as how to take them to maximize the health-promoting powers we’re after. Vitamin D is an important nutrient that’s top of mind for many lately, and that’s good news since most people don’t consume enough of it. You can hike your levels of the sunshine vitamin by spending time in the sun (UV rays prompt your body to make its own vitamin D) and through consuming foods that contain it (such as salmon, eggs, and some fortified dairy or cereal products).<\/p>\n

But you can\u2019t get all you need through food and sun exposure alone (especially because we all need to be protecting ourselves from the sun’s damaging rays). So, it’s \u201cvery reasonable\u201d to take a supplement to be sure, says JoAnn Manson, <\/a>a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital in Boston.<\/p>\n

Note: Our registered dietitians in the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab review and evaluate every single supplement we recommend in accordance with our dietary supplement methodology<\/a>. We then have a registered dietitian on our Medical Review Board<\/a> review each article for scientific accuracy. A supplement should do just that: supplement the diet, not replace high-quality, nutritious food and important healthy lifestyle practices. Check with your health care provider before starting any dietary supplement regimen.<\/p>\n

Vitamin D benefits<\/p>\n

Vitamin D helps you absorb calcium, which helps to build and maintain strong bones, muscles, and joints. In fact, the two\u2014calcium and vitamin D\u2014together can help protect you from osteoporosis<\/a>, a disease that weakens your skeleton and makes bones more likely to break if you should fall, adds Carol Haggans<\/a>, a spokesperson for the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Your muscles also need it to do their thing, as do your nerves, which carry messages between your brain and your body. Oh, and without vitamin D, your immune system would be less adept at fighting off bacteria and viruses.<\/p>\n

When is the best time to take vitamin D?<\/p>\n

It just plain doesn\u2019t matter, as long as you take it with food, says Dr. Manson. Her advice: Take it when you\u2019ll remember to take it \u2014 morning, noon, or night \u2014 and take it with a meal, she says. \u201cIt is important that it be taken with food, because vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin,\u201d meaning it does not dissolve in water and is absorbed with fat, so it is better if there\u2019s a little healthy fat<\/a> to mix it up with, says Dr. Manson. \u201cOften it will come in a softgel with a little oil in it to help it absorb, but it\u2019s still best to take it with food.\u201d<\/p>\n

How much vitamin D to take<\/p>\n

Most of us \u2014 healthy adults between 19 and 70 \u2014 should try to consume 600\u2013800 IUs, says Haggans (the recommended amounts<\/a> are different for healthy people who are older or younger.)<\/p>\n

\"omega<\/p>\n

Tanja Ivanova\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

But some people require more than the suggested amount for their age group. Breastfeeding women should take note: \u201cIt\u2019s recommended to give breastfed infants a supplement, because breastmilk doesn\u2019t provide infants with enough vitamin D,\u201d says Haggans. <\/p>\n

Others who may need more vitamin D than the recommended amounts:
<\/p>\n

People with conditions that limit fat absorption, such as Crohn\u2019s disease<\/a>, celiac disease<\/a> or ulcerative colitis<\/a>;Older adults, whose bodies become less good at making vitamin D from sun exposure as they age;People with dark skin tones (some may produce less vitamin D from sunlight)People carrying a lot of body weight or who have had gastric bypass surgery;Those who wear a head covering, are meticulous about never exposing their skin, or simply don\u2019t go out in the sun a lot.People on a vegan diet. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have any milk or fish, you\u2019re cutting out two big sources of vitamin D,\u201d says Haggans. \u201cLook for fortified orange juice and breakfast cereals and check nutrition labels.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s also important to make sure you don’t overdo it. \u201cMore is not better, and megadosing should be avoided,\u201d says Dr. Manson. The upper limit per day for everyone over 9 years old is 4,000 IUs, unless you\u2019ve been screened by your doctor and have issues specific to you that they feel require a higher dose. Extremely high levels can cause symptoms like vomiting, muscle weakness, confusion and pain and even lead to kidney failure, irregular heartbeat and even death. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you’re going to shell out on an entire pill organizer\u2019s worth of daily supplements, you probably want…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[64,63,350359,137,532],"class_list":["post-723256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ghi-informed","tag-health","tag-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}