While it’s easy to draw a link between health conditions like high blood pressure and heart disease or type 2 diabetes and obesity, there are other illnesses and health woes that we would never think to connect. For example, take irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which affects up to 45 million Americans, and vitamin D deficiency, which is present in over 90 million American adults. These may not seem related at first glance, but research has revealed that IBS may actually be one of the most common vitamin D deficiency symptoms.
Indeed, a study in BMJ Open Gastroenterology found that a whopping 82% of participants with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) were low on vitamin D. In fact, the lower their vitamin D levels, the more severe their digestive symptoms and the worse their quality of life.
While the study didn’t find that vitamin D deficiency causes IBS, there’s good reason to believe increasing vitamin D could improve general bowel health, says study coauthor Bernard Corfe, Ph.D. Indeed, separate research published in Nutrients found that increasing your vitamin D intake may improve IBS symptoms such as bloating, flatulence, abdominal pain, and constipation. Additional studies have linked other gastrointestinal conditions, like inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer, with low vitamin D levels too.
One possible explanation is related to vitamin D’s role in strengthening your immune system and reducing inflammation. There are vitamin D receptors throughout your colon that regulate inflammation, and not getting enough of the vitamin could interfere with them. Vitamin D is also thought to play a role in producing mood-boosting serotonin, which may be why IBS patients with low vitamin D levels are more likely to report a poor quality of life.
“This study suggests that upping vitamin D intake via sun exposure, supplements, and food may help remedy certain symptoms for those with IBS and promote good general bowel health for the average person,” says Corfe.
Of course, there’s no guarantee these lifestyle changes will make a difference. But since more than one-third of Americans are deficient in vitamin D, you could likely use a little more of the nutrient anyway.
How to Get More Vitamin D
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommend that adults get between 15-20 micrograms of vitamin D each day. (For context, a 3-ounce salmon filet contains 14.2 micrograms of vitamin D—about 71% of your daily recommended intake.) There are three key sources of the nutrient: the sun, your diet, or vitamin D supplements.
Get Outside
Soaking up the sun is one way to get vitamin D. But according to the NIH, that’s not always a reliable strategy, because season, time of day, and cloud cover can affect how much of the nutrient you’re getting. Sun exposure also increases your risk of skin cancer, so the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recommends getting vitamin D through your diet, instead.
Eat Foods Rich in Vitamin D
There are just a few foods that naturally contain vitamin D, like fatty fish (trout, tuna, salmon, mackerel), beef liver, egg yolk, cheese, and mushrooms. But many other foods are fortified with vitamin D, meaning they contain added vitamin D to help you get enough of the nutrient. These include: milk (cow, soy, almond, oat), cereal, orange juice, and yogurt.
Take a Vitamin D Supplement
If your vitamin D levels are low, despite changing your diet, talk to your doctor. They may recommend taking a vitamin D supplement to boost your levels.
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