Meeting vitamin D requirements

Learn about the considerations necessary when formulating with vitamin D.

Vitamin-D
Vitamin-D
Including vitamin D in a pet food formulation comes with a lot to consider. | Gilnature I iStock.com

While earning a Ph.D. in nutritional sciences, I took multiple graduate-level classes that covered the biological functionality of vitamin D. It is a finicky vitamin that can cause both deficiencies and toxicities. While some animals can generate sufficient quantities with exposure to sunlight, most of our pets require dietary supplementation for normal metabolism and bone development. While the collective knowledge of vitamin D requirements in various animal species has been refined over time, nutrition education often overlooks an important aspect of meeting these requirements: nutrient delivery. 

FIGURE 1: When an ingredient’s nutrient levels fall short of what an animal’s requirement is, the animal is considered deficient. On the other side, too much of an ingredient may cause a toxic response in an animal.

 

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