One egg a day can maintain blood vitamin D levels in winter, when sunlight exposure is reduced due to lack of sunlight, a study has found.
Vitamin D is also called the ‘sunshine vitamin’ because it is synthesized in the body through the skin exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays.
This provides most of the vitamin D our body needs.
Among foods, it is found in oily fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel), liver, egg yolk, and cheese, and can also be consumed through vitamin D-added cereals, milk, and vitamin D supplements.
Professor Robin Daly’s research team at the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN) at Deakin University, Australia, conducted an experiment on 51 adults (25-40 years old) in winter. This has been revealed, MedicalXpress reported on the 16th.
The research team randomly divided them into 3 groups and ate 2 eggs, 7 eggs, and 12 eggs a week, respectively, for 12 weeks, and measured blood vitamin D levels before and following the start of the experiment.
As a result, there was no significant change in average vitamin D blood levels in the group that ate 7 eggs per week and the group that ate 12 eggs per week.
In the group that ate 7 eggs per week, the average blood vitamin D level decreased by 8.3 nmol/L (nanomoles per liter), and the group that ate 12 eggs decreased by 7.2 nmol/L.
This is not much of a drop from the normal value of 75 nmol/L (30 ng/mL).
However, in the control group who ate two eggs per week, the vitamin D blood level decreased by an average of 28.6 nmol/L.
Eggs also contain cholesterol, so the team also tested their blood cholesterol levels, but found that neither group ate 7 or 12 eggs per week.
The most important role of vitamin D is to help absorb calcium and maintain bone health.
Therefore, a lack of vitamin D can lead to osteoporosis, which increases the risk of fractures due to loose bone density.
In particular, vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy can cause the bones of the fetus to not develop properly.
Vitamin D deficiency can also increase the risk of other diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, and dementia.
However, this vitamin D is difficult to obtain through food, so vitamin D supplements are prescribed if there is a lack of vitamin D.
Eggs are one of the foods rich in vitamin D.
The results of this study were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Nutrition, a journal of the American Society for Nutrition.
/yunhap news