How is vitamin D added to milk?

Few foods naturally contain significant amounts of vitamin D, which is essential for bone health and may affect your susceptibility to certain medical conditions. read more

Because vitamin D is not prevalent in many foods, fortifying milk with additional vitamin D was a natural solution, since it also contained key minerals for bone development. Vitamin-fortified milk began to appear in the 1920s and became more common by the 1930s. read more

Milk does contain vitamin D. In fact, a report in the December 2004 issue of the"American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" reports that milk and ready-to-eat breakfast cereals serve as the main food sources of vitamin D in the United States. read more

This practice added vitamins A and D to milk prior to homogenizing (mixing) and pasteurizing (heating to destroy harmful bacteria) steps to ready milk for the consumer. Since the 1930s, the standard is to fortify all milk to provide 30 percent of daily value of vitamin D in every 8-ounce glass. read more