TempoLife › Features › Reference intakes by nutrient, age and sex › older-adults

Vitamin D for adults 65 and over

Fifteen micrograms a day, the same published figure as for any adult. What changes with age is not the number but everything around it: less efficient skin synthesis, less time outdoors, and a fracture risk that makes the shortfall matter more.

EFSA note on this row: EFSA sets no separate value for older adults

These are published population reference values, not a diagnosis and not a prescription. A reference intake describes what covers a healthy group; it cannot tell you your own status, and no page can. Pregnancy, chronic illness, medicines and malabsorption all change the picture — take those questions to a doctor, midwife, pharmacist or dietitian.

The same number, a harder target

EFSA does not set a separate vitamin D value for older adults; the adequate intake is 15 micrograms a day at every adult age. But ageing skin produces less vitamin D from the same ultraviolet exposure, and older adults on average spend less time outside, so the gap between the requirement and the natural supply widens.

At Baltic and Nordic latitudes there is no skin synthesis at all from roughly October to March, so for half the year the question is purely one of intake — food or supplement — for everybody. For an older adult the other half of the year contributes less than it used to as well.

Bone, muscle and falls

Vitamin D controls calcium absorption, and inadequate vitamin D leads to secondary hyperparathyroidism and bone loss. It also affects muscle function, which is why the research on vitamin D in older adults is as much about falls as about fractures.

This is the reason national guidance in the Nordic countries has long treated the oldest age group as a specific target for vitamin D advice, sometimes at a higher figure than for other adults. The exact national recommendation for older adults is set nationally and revised, so this page names the EFSA figure and points you at your own national guidance for the rest.

Calcium is the companion question

Vitamin D and calcium are a pair in bone health, and clinical guidance for osteoporosis usually addresses both together. The calcium reference intake for this group is 950 mg a day, and the calcium page carries its own food table.

If you are being treated for osteoporosis, your treatment plan already specifies what to take. That plan beats any general reference value, including these.

Where food can and cannot help

Oily fish is the one food that moves the needle: a portion of salmon, mackerel, herring or trout covers the day. Fortified margarine and milk contribute, egg yolk and mushrooms contribute a little. If oily fish is not a regular part of the week, the honest arithmetic in the food table says a supplement is the practical route.

High-dose products bought online are the risk at the other end. The upper level for adults is 100 micrograms a day, and vitamin D genuinely accumulates.

How this compares with every other group

Ordinary food against the 15 µg figure for adults 65 and over

Top of this list: Trout, 22.8 µg in a 120 g serving (a fillet) — 152% of the 15 µg figure for adults 65 and over. One serving covers the whole day on its own.

† US milk is fortified with vitamin D, and reduced-fat and skimmed milk also with vitamin A. Fortification of liquid milk is not universal in Europe - read the carton.

† Margarine is fortified with vitamins A and D here as well, but the amount is set by the manufacturer, so treat this figure as indicative rather than as a property of the food.

Portion sizes are ordinary household servings chosen for this table, not official reference portions, and the shortlist is an editorial one: everyday foods eaten in this region rather than the highest per-100 g entries in the database. A raw per-100 g ranking would be topped by dried herbs, drink powders and fortified breakfast cereals, which answers a different question. The composition data is American, so where US fortification practice differs from European practice the row carries a dagger and the reason. For the full per-100 g ranking of a nutrient, the food-data section of this site publishes one.

The whole nutrient, not just this group

The Vitamin D reference intake page carries the full age and sex table, the upper level, and what the value type means.

Related pages

Sources: EFSA Dietary Reference Values · Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex XIII · USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy (food composition) · EFSA scientific opinion on dietary reference values for vitamin D (2016) · Nordic Nutrition Recommendations, Nordic Council of Ministers · Tervise Arengu Instituut, Estonian national nutrition guidance · Ruokavirasto, Finnish national nutrition guidance · checked 2026-09-06

Frequently asked questions