We generally get most of our Vitamin D from the sun. However, since the sun doesn't shine constantly all year round and not everyone spends a lot of time in the sun, it's easy for us not to get enough of it into our bodies.

Vitamin D is also known as the "sunshine vitamin" because our bodies are able to produce and absorb Vitamin D from sunlight. Spending 5-30 minutes in the sun twice a week between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on your face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen is usually enough to increase your intake.

The best way to maintain healthy levels is to ensure you get Vitamin D from a variety of sources, primarily:

- The sun

- Foods

- Vitamin D supplements

Vitamin D happens to be one of those vitamins not found in many foods, which means it isn't necessarily that easy to replenish through your diet.

Main food sources of Vitamin D: oily fish (think salmon, herring, sardines, and canned tuna), red meat, liver, egg yolk, and fortified foods, e.g., fatty spreads and breakfast cereals.

In addition to increasing your food sources of Vitamin D, you can also increase your Vitamin D levels by taking Vitamin D supplements. There is a wide range of supplements available, such as tablets, capsules, drops for babies and children, sprays, and chewable tablets.

Although there are few food sources of Vitamin D, the good news is that some of them are vegan. For example, 1 cup of almond milk provides 100 mg of Vitamin D, orange juice provides 100 mg, and 1 cup of portobello mushrooms provides 634 mg.

Other vegan Vitamin D sources in food include Maitake mushrooms, soy milk, soy yogurt, and ready-to-eat cereals.

- Here are some things you might not have known about Vitamin D:

- You are more likely to get less of it if you live in a big city with high density and pollution levels, or if you work in an office or on the night shift.

- One in five people in the UK has low Vitamin D levels.

- Most people don't even know they are suffering from Vitamin D deficiency.

- In autumn and winter, Vitamin D must be obtained from your diet because the sun is not strong enough for our bodies to produce it.

- Ultraviolet B radiation in sunlight, which enables our bodies to produce Vitamin D, does not penetrate glass, so we need to go outdoors to get UV-derived Vitamin D.

You can find our list of the best Vitamin D supplements HERE!