If you take a vitamin D supplement, you’re far from alone. An estimated 18.5% of adults report taking a vitamin D supplement, not including those who take a multivitamin containing the vitamin. If you’ve been taking your supplement and still struggling to get your levels up, you may wonder whether what you eat alongside it makes a difference in how your body absorbs the vitamin.
While you don’t have to cut foods out of your diet to get the most from your vitamin D supplement, certain dietary habits may influence how well your body absorbs vitamin D or maintains healthy levels. Keep reading to learn which foods experts suggest eating separately from your vitamin D supplement, and what to pair with it instead.
1. Black Coffee
Many people take supplements first thing in the morning, often with a glass of water or a cup of black coffee. But black coffee on its own won’t support maximum absorption of your vitamin D supplement.
“The first food I would avoid pairing with your vitamin D supplement is a meal with no fat at all,” says Danielle Oncer, PharmD. “This is because vitamin D is fat-soluble (meaning it dissolves in fat instead of water), so your body absorbs it best when there is some fat in your meal at the same time.”
While taking your supplement with a fat-free meal may reduce absorption, coffee consumption may also be associated with vitamin D levels. Research suggests that people who consume higher amounts of caffeine may have lower vitamin D levels, although more research is needed to determine whether there’s a direct connection between the two.,
For better absorption, enjoy a cup of coffee with avocado toast or a veggie-packed egg scramble while you take your supplement.
2. Legumes
Beans, lentils, chickpeas and soybeans are nutrient-dense plant proteins, loaded with fiber and valuable micronutrients and antioxidants. But they also contain compounds called phytates that can bind to minerals such as calcium, making it harder for your body to absorb them. Since one of vitamin D’s main roles is to help your body absorb calcium, you may wonder whether taking your supplement alongside legumes could affect its benefits.
“Foods high in phytates, such as beans, are helpful to avoid mixing with a Vitamin D supplement,” says Erin Person, M.S., RD. “While phytates may not intercept Vitamin D directly, they do limit calcium absorption, which works with Vitamin D to support bone health.”
By no means should you avoid legumes, though. Phytates affect calcium absorption rather than directly blocking vitamin D absorption, but it may be helpful to eat your legume-rich meal an hour or two before or after taking your vitamin D supplement. If you’re taking a combination calcium and vitamin D supplement or have concerns about your calcium intake, check with your healthcare provider.
3. Spinach
Spinach is a rich source of antioxidants, vitamin K and iron, but it’s also high in oxalic acid, a compound also found in other foods like collard greens, sweet potatoes and rhubarb. Oxalic acid binds to calcium in your gut to form salts that your body can’t digest, reducing the amount of calcium your body absorbs.
If you’re prone to kidney stones, you’ve probably heard about oxalates a time or two. The oxalates your body absorbs can travel to your kidneys, where they combine with calcium to form crystals that, over time, can turn into calcium oxalate kidney stones.
But if you’re taking vitamin D to improve bone health, taking it with foods high in oxalates may work against you. While vitamin D supports calcium absorption, oxalates can reduce the amount of calcium your body absorbs from certain foods. That’s especially relevant if you take a combined calcium and vitamin D supplement or rely on your meal to provide calcium.
You don’t have to limit spinach or other high-oxalate foods unless your healthcare provider recommends it, but taking your supplement separately from a big spinach salad or green smoothie may help.
4. Alcohol
Unlike coffee, spinach or beans, the timing of a cocktail isn’t as important as how much you drink when it comes to vitamin D. Heavy drinking can lead to liver damage, and your liver plays an important role in converting vitamin D into a form your body can use. Some forms of liver disease can also make it harder for your body to absorb fat, as well as fat-soluble vitamins, like vitamin D.
Research suggests that heavy alcohol consumption may be associated with lower vitamin D levels. Alcohol-related liver damage, poor nutrient intake and other factors may contribute to this relationship, making it difficult to pinpoint one cause.
If you do drink, it’s a good idea to consider limiting your intake, which typically means about one or fewer drinks per day for women and two or fewer drinks per day for men.
Potential Symptoms of a Reaction
Unlike some medication or supplement interactions, eating these foods with your vitamin D supplement won’t cause symptoms you’ll notice right away. If your vitamin D levels aren’t improving despite taking a supplement, several factors could be responsible, including your dose, how consistently you take it and whether an underlying health condition affects absorption.
“It is a silent problem that shows up weeks or months later as a vitamin D level that won’t improve on a 25-hydroxyvitamin D blood test (the standard lab used to check your vitamin D level),” says Oncer. “If poor absorption goes on long enough to cause a true deficiency, adults can develop osteomalacia (soft, weak bones), which can cause bone pain and muscle weakness, but that is a slow process.”
The biggest risk of vitamin D supplements comes from taking too much, not from absorbing too little. As a fat-soluble vitamin, vitamin D is stored in fat tissues and can build up to dangerous levels if too much is taken in supplement form. “Too much vitamin D raises the calcium in your blood (hypercalcemia), which can cause nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, muscle weakness, confusion, dehydration, excessive thirst and urination, kidney stones and, at extremely high levels, an irregular heartbeat,” says Oncer. If you notice any of these symptoms while taking a vitamin D supplement, it’s important to speak to your healthcare provider and seek medical attention.
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