Hello Sunshine.

With hot weather and sunshine on the way, comes vitamin D also. Spoiler alert, it’s not technically a vitamin but a term given to a group of precursor compounds. D3 is made when you expose your skin to the sun (hello summer holidays!) and can also be food in food. D2 is synthesized when you eat fungi (aka mushrooms).

The bottom line is that there aren’t many foods that are sources of vitamin D but if you’re not getting that much sun exposure (I’m looking at you, fellow Brits!) then here are some vitamin D food sources you can include in your meals:

- Oily fish

- Beef liver

- Egg yolks

- Cheese

- Mushrooms

So, why is vitamin D so important to fertility?

Vitamin D receptors have been found in the ovaries, endometrium and placenta in women and in the testicles and sperm in men. Vitamin D is an immune modulator, which means it helps to regulate the immune system and in particular in the reproductive tissues. When conception occurs, a woman’s immune system has to adjust in order to be able welcome what is essentially a foreign body (the embryo) rather than launch an attack on it. A 2020 paper reviewing data relating to vitamin D and its impact on the immune system from periconception to pregnancy found that, ‘vitamin D plays an important role in fertility, embryo implantation and maintenance of pregnancy’. (Schröder-Heurich et al., 2020)

All the more reason to squeeze in some sunshine time in your lunch break this summer.

References

Schröder-Heurich B, Springer CJP, von Versen-Höynck F. Vitamin D Effects on the Immune System from Periconception through Pregnancy. Nutrients. 2020 May 15;12(5):1432. doi: 10.3390/nu12051432. PMID: 32429162; PMCID: PMC7284509.