The perfect time to take your Vitamin D supplement

Vitamin D is necessary for your gut to be able to absorb calcium as well as maintaining adequate concentrations of it and phosphate in your blood. Thus this vital nutrient enables normal bone mineralization among several other health benefits.

Also known as the sunshine vitamin, your body can naturally produce Vitamin D, but too much exposure to UV rays, which prompt its creation, comes with the risk of skin cancer. There are a few foods that can provide your body with additional Vitamin D, however, for most people neither of these sources is enough to get the recommended daily amount.

For that reason, taking a supplement may be the best way for most people to enough Vitamin D according to Harvard. Because it is a fat-soluble vitamin, it does not dissolve in water which means that it is best to take a Vitamin D supplement with a meal to improve uptake of the vital nutrient.

The perfect time to take your Vitamin D supplement

It doesn’t matter what time of day you take a Vitamin D supplement, as long as you remember to take it and do so with a meal. Ideally including foods that are a nutritious source of fat to increase absorption of Vitamin D. These healthy fats can be found in avocados, eggs, full fat dairy products, nuts and seeds according to Heathline.

Some limited studies cited by the health website found that taking a Vitamin D supplement with the largest meal of the day raised blood levels by roughly 50% after a few months. Another showed a 32% increase after 12 hours when a Vitamin D supplement was consumed with a high fat meal as opposed to a fat-free meal.

While definitive scientific research is lacking, it may be best to avoid taking Vitamin D supplements close to bedtime as some anecdotal reports claim it “can negatively influence sleep quality by interfering with melatonin production.” Low levels of Vitamin D however, has been associated with “a higher risk of sleep disturbances, poorer sleep quality, and reduced sleep duration” according to a number of studies. In the end though, Healthline says that “it may be best to simply experiment and find what works best for you.”