Use Mushrooms to Create Vitamin D with Sunshine

Reader Contribution by Linda Watson
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We create vitamin D when our bare skin is exposed to sunlight. Unfortunately, so few of us do that in these days of office jobs, video games, and sunscreen that the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Report flagged the national lack of vitamin D as a “public health concern” because “under consumption has been linked in the scientific literature to adverse health outcomes.” Too little vitamin D leads to weak bones, tiredness, depression, and even heart trouble. Low levels of vitamin D also make it harder to absorb calcium, another nutrient flagged by the Dietary Guidelines Report.

I experienced the tiredness brought on by vitamin D deficiency last year as a side-effect to a side-effect. I came down with a bad case of shingles last spring, just when I should have been frolicking outside and restoring my vitamin D levels after being bundled up for the winter. The pain killers I took for the shingles made me very sensitive to light, so I literally spent the summer in our dim basement. My doctor didn’t think to check my vitamin D levels or suggest supplements until I complained about sleeping 12 to 14 hours a day even after the rash was gone. As soon as I started taking a D supplement, I started feeling more energetic and sleeping less.

I’d much rather get my nutrition from pure, whole foods instead of supplements, an approach recommended by the Dietary Guidelines. Wild mushrooms are an excellent source of vitamin D because they were grown with some sun exposure, but I don’t have the knowledge to safely forage for them. I was amazed to find that you can increase the vitamin D in store-bought mushrooms that were grown in the dark just by exposing them to sunlight.

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