How Did People Get Enough Vitamin D in the 1800s?

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As someone who is interested in history I often find myself wondering how things were done in the past whenever I learn modern information about health. Back during a time where the concept of vitamins and minerals was either unheard of or just starting to be discovered, how did people in the past get enough Vitamin D without supplements since modern supplements didn't even exist yet?

Since we can't travel back in time, it's impossible to know with any absolute certainty how people got enough Vitamin D (or even if they got enough Vitamin D), but I want to explore a few possibilities based on my research into both history and Vitamin D.

I specifically chose the 1800s to focus on simply because it's my favorite period in history and it's also the one that I've learned the most about over the years. This information could apply to many other periods in history, too, though, because modern Vitamin D supplements didn't exist until the 20th century, so any time before that would have been a time when people needed to get their Vitamin D from other sources.

Jump to:

• A Few Considerations
• Some People Were Deficient in Vitamin D
• Could People Get Enough Vitamin D From the Sun?
• Could People Make Vitamin D Through Clothing?
• Could People Get Enough Vitamin D Just From Food?
• Vitamin D Levels Versus Actual Activity in Foods
• An Old-Fashioned Vitamin D Supplement
• Who Would Have Been the Most Likely to Get Enough Vitamin D?
• Modern Day Vitamin D Sources
• Sources

A Few Considerations

For the most part I'm going to be talking about people living during the 1800s in a general sense, but it's hard to cover every possible situation. The lifestyles and fashions of people would have varied in different locations and different cultures, of course. And occupation and economic status would have made a difference also. For example, someone working underground in a mine all day or indoors in a factory would have had much less exposure to the sun than someone on a farm working in the fields most of the day. And people's diets would have varied depending on where they lived, whether they were in the city or in a rural area, and on the types of foods they had access to and were able to afford.

Also, I need to state a quick disclaimer that I'm not a medical professional and this article is for informational purposes only. There are lots of interesting things we can learn from the past, but it's also important to do your own research and/or talk to a doctor about any health concerns you might have.

Some People Were Deficient in Vitamin D

Before we look at some of the ways that people might have been able to get enough Vitamin D, it's important to note that not everyone was getting a sufficient amount of Vitamin D during the 19th century or during other periods of history. Rickets was well known in the past, and eventually researchers linked a Vitamin D deficiency to Rickets even though people in the past didn't fully know what was causing it.

According to this article about the history of nutritional rickets¹, there was an increase in the occurrence of Rickets that happened about the same time as the Industrial Revolution, and the cases of Rickets were higher among those who lived in the cities. Those who were poor seem to have been more likely to suffer from Rickets as well. Both of those factors could easily have contributed to a deficiency of Vitamin D because those in the cities probably spent less time outdoors than those out in the more rural areas, and those who were poor and had diets lacking in nutrition would have had less opportunity to get Vitamin D from their diets. This article about the historical aspects of Vitamin D² has some interesting information about Rickets and Vitamin D, too, if you're interested in reading more.

Since not everyone had Rickets, though, it seems reasonable to think that not everyone in the past was deficient in Vitamin D. Some people may have had less than optimal Vitamin D levels, but since no one was testing Vitamin D levels in the 1800s there wouldn't really be a way to know that someone was deficient unless they had more obvious symptoms and signs. It seems unlikely to me, though, that everyone in all of the centuries leading up to the 20th century would have been deficient in Vitamin D, so I think that there certainly must have been some people in the past who would have been able to get enough Vitamin D even without modern supplements.

Could People Get Enough Vitamin D From the Sun?

One of the ways that our bodies can make Vitamin D is from exposure to the UVB rays from the sun. The ability to make Vitamin D from sun exposure varies a lot by the time of day and the time of year, though. Since UVB rays need to be present that means that you can't get Vitamin D at a time of day where there is no UVB. In general, the midday hours are the ones where there is most likely to be UVB rays in sunlight. The sun also needs to be at least 30 degrees above the horizon, so for those in more Northern locations that means that there often months in the winter time when it's impossible to make Vitamin D from the sun.

If you're interested in knowing when UVB is present in the sunlight and when the sun is over 30 degrees above the horizon you can find that information in an app that I like to use called My Circadian App. The app is free to download, but there is an optional paid upgrade if you want to have unlimited access to all of the features. I've been using the free version of the app for a while now and it has a lot of helpful information even without the upgrade.

People living in past centuries could certainly have gotten some Vitamin D by being out in the sun during the times of the day when UVB rays were available. There would have been exceptions, of course, but in general people probably spent a lot more time outside than most people do today. People who lived on farms or on homesteads would have spent a good portion of the day working in fields and gardens and taking care of livestock. Chores like laundry might have been done outside in good weather. And even travel was often done on horseback or by riding in an open carriage or wagon.

One complicating factor about sun exposure, though, is the fact that the typical fashion for many people in the 1800s was to have the majority of their skin covered when outside. This would have varied based on location, occupation, and ethnicity, but in general when you look at photographs and illustrations from the 19th century the typical fashion was for people to have very little skin exposure during the day time. For both men and women it was common to have long sleeves for day time wear. Men typically wore long pants, and women typically wore long dresses or skirts. Not all cultures would have worn clothing of this fashion, and people from some cultures would have had more skin exposure, but for those who were wearing the style of clothing that covered most of the body there would have been very little skin exposed to be able to get any Vitamin D from the sun.

Since many people spent a good portion of time outdoors, though, the next possibility to consider is whether people could have been able to get some Vitamin D through the clothing that they were wearing.

I came across some information that it is possible for some UVB rays to go through certain types of clothing. Most of the information I found about that topic is from the opposite perspective of wearing clothing to try to block as many UVB rays as possible. This article, for example, talks about how well clothes block UV rays, but you could also turn that information around to the opposite viewpoint to see what types of clothing let UV rays through instead.

The clothing that is the most likely to block UVB rays is clothing made from synthetic materials and clothing that is darker in color and with a tightly woven material. And the clothing that is the most likely to allow some UVB rays to penetrate through it is clothing made from natural fibers, lighter colored clothing, and clothing that is more loosely woven. Since synthetic fibers were just beginning to be experimented with in the 1800s, the most common clothing fibers of the 1800s would have been cotton, wool, linen, and silk.

I wasn't able to find any information about whether or not it is actually possible to get enough UVB rays through clothing to be able to produce Vitamin D from the sunlight. I would imagine that someone would have to be out in the sun for a fairly significant amount of time for that to happen, but if someone were to be working outside for hours and hours wearing a light-colored cotton shirt, for example, I would think that it might be at least possible that they could get some Vitamin D from being outside in the sunshine even if they had most of their skin covered by clothing. (If they rolled their sleeves up while working then that would increase the chances of Vitamin D production even more.)

So it's possible that some people could have gotten some Vitamin D through sun exposure, whether directly on exposed skin or through light-colored natural fiber clothing, but the amount of Vitamin D production probably wouldn't be as much as it would be for someone in the modern day going outside in shorts and a tank top or going to the beach in a bathing suit. It's still possible that there were some Vitamin D production for those who spent a significant amount of time outdoors, though.

Could People Get Enough Vitamin D Just From Food?

The next question to think about is whether or not it's possible to get enough Vitamin D from food sources. I've often heard that it's very difficult to get enough Vitamin D from food alone. I've wondered, though, if that is really true because up until the 20th century no one was taking pills for supplementing their Vitamin D status. So I wanted to look into this a bit more, focusing specifically on foods that would have been available in the 1800s or earlier. Many modern day foods are "fortified" with added vitamins and minerals including Vitamin D, but since that is a more modern-day practice I wanted to focus on just the foods that have naturally-occurring Vitamin D that would have been available as Vitamin D sources in the 1800s and earlier.

I came across this chart by the Weston A. Price Foundation that lists off some test results for the Vitamin D levels in certain foods. The foods on this list are mostly traditional fat sources (lard, tallow, butter, etc.), eggs, cod liver oil, and a few others. These foods would have been readily accessible to many people back in the 1800s.

One thing that's interesting to note about that food chart is the fact that several foods listed as "conventional" have higher Vitamin D levels than the pastured version of the same foods (conventional eggs verses pastured eggs, for example). As mentioned in the article, that's probably because the animals eating those foods were eating feed that had been fortified with Vitamin D, so that would effect the overall Vitamin D levels. So the values for the pastured or grass fed foods would more closely reflect the Vitamin D levels of foods in the 1800s.

The highest levels of Vitamin D on this chart are for cod liver oils (which we'll talk more about later on). Eggs from pasture-raised chickens (which is how the vast majority of chickens would have been raised in the 1800s) are a decent source of Vitamin D as well. According to this chart, if someone were to eat two eggs from pasture-raised chickens they could already get over 100 IUs of Vitamin D just from those eggs. And for reference the typical recommended daily amount for most adults is around 600 IUs so two eggs would provide about one sixth of the daily amount just at breakfast.

That chart from the Weston A. Price Foundation website doesn't include any fish other than fish oils, but I've seen others sources mention fatty fish as a good source of Vitamin D also. This chart of food sources of Vitamin D from the USDA shows that a 3 ounce portion of fish could range from 118 IUs of Vitamin D for flounder up to 645 IUs of Vitamin D for freshwater rainbow trout with other types of fish ranging in the middle between those amounts. So fish could certainly have been a significant source of Vitamin D for those who lived near the ocean or who were able to catch fish from lakes and streams.

This study³ also shows that exposing pigs to sunlight can increase the amount of Vitamin D that is present in the meat from those pigs. Even though meat is not typically considered high in Vitamin D, having pork from pigs that were raised outdoors could have been another lesser source of Vitamin D for people living in the 1800s, especially since pork was a popular meat during the time for many.

It's also interesting to me that I've seen different numbers for the amount of Vitamin D from different sources that I've come across for foods. Lard from pigs raised outside in the sunshine is said by some to be one of the highest sources of Vitamin D. I've seen vastly different numbers given, though, for the amount of Vitamin D per tablespoon. One source had an amount of 1,000 IU per tablespoon and the chart I mentioned earlier had an amount of only 9 IU per tablespoon. That's quite a difference! Clearly different tests can give vastly different results, and the type of lard, what the pigs were fed, whether they were out in the sunshine, etc. as well as the way that the tests were conducted would make a difference. Lard was a very common cooking fat in the 1800s, especially for those living on farms, so it's certainly possible that people were able to get some additional Vitamin D by cooking some of their food in lard.

Overall, I think that it was probably easier for people to get a decent amount of Vitamin D from foods back in the 1800s than it is today because of the way that many animals were raised. There were some exceptions, I'm sure, but in general it was more common for animals to be pasture-raised and grass-fed back in the 1800s, and this exposure to the outdoors and sunlight would likely have increased the Vitamin D levels and made it easier for people to get Vitamin D from food sources.

Vitamin D Levels Versus Actual Activity in Foods

This article by the Weston A. Price Foundation also mentioned that a Vitamin D expert, Hector Deluca, has said that the laboratory analyses tests may not be showing the true Vitamin D activity of a food. If I'm understanding this part of the article correctly, it sounds like the Vitamin D levels present in a food aren't always the same as the Vitamin D activity that the food would have in the body. So the amount of Vitamin D that a test result shows in a food doesn't necessarily mean that that amount reflects how it would work in the body in terms of supporting health the way that Vitamin D is supposed to do.

So it could be possible that even if a certain food has a lower amount of Vitamin D in terms of the usual testing that is done to determine that, that food might have an effect in the body that would make it seem as if it had a higher Vitamin D level because the body is responding to the food in a positive way. I'm not a scientist at all, but it makes sense to me that traditional foods that people were eating for centuries before anyone had even discovered Vitamin D could help to support the health of the body even if modern day testing shows that the Vitamin D levels don't have as high of a number.

And this is just speculation on my part, but it seems as though it's possible that some of these traditional foods that have a high Vitamin D activity in the body may be effective even if they aren't consumed in levels that meet the current guidelines. So, for example, if someone in the 1800s were to eat foods that were highly active and usable in the body that totaled 400 IUs of Vitamin, maybe those would be close to being as effective in their bodies as someone eating 600 IUs worth of foods that weren't as active in the body. Just my own speculation, of course, but it's interesting to think about the fact that all of our modern testing and analyzing of foods is so recent compared to all of the years that people were eating traditional foods without knowing any specific numbers of Vitamin or mineral contents.

An Old-Fashioned Vitamin D Supplement

Even though modern Vitamin D supplements didn't exist yet in the form of isolated Vitamin D pills that could be swallowed there was a way that some people might have supplemented their diet with some additional Vitamin D and that was through taking cod liver oil.

Cod liver oil became increasingly popular as the 1800s progressed and into the early part of the 20th century. It wasn't until the early 20th century that the fat-soluble vitamins in cod liver oil were discovered and named as Vitamin A and Vitamin D, but even before that time cod liver oil was gaining in popularity because of the claims of it's benefits for health.

With different ways of producing the oil there were likely differences in the quality of the oil and a difference in the amount of Vitamin D that was actually present in the oil. It seems likely, though, that at least some of the cod liver oil produced during the 1800s would have had a reasonable amount of Vitamin D because around 1922 Vitamin D was discovered in cod liver oil by researcher Elmer McCollum. This article from the Science History Institute has some very interesting information about the history of cod liver oil if you're interested in learning more about that.

Not everyone during the 1800s would have been taking cod liver oil, and for those who were we don't know how often they were taking it or how much Vitamin D was actually present in the oil they were taking, but it's certainly possible that at least some people were getting some additional Vitamin D through cod liver oil. This extra Vitamin D could have been enough to prevent deficiency if there was a large enough amount present in the cod liver oil or it could have been enough combined with Vitamin D from other food sources and/or from some sun exposure to give some people a sufficient amount of Vitamin D.

Who Would Have Been the Most Likely to Get Enough Vitamin D?

Since we can't travel back in time it would be impossible to know for sure how much Vitamin D people in different circumstances were able to get, but these are some possible scenarios of how people may have been able to get enough Vitamin D.

For people who didn't spend much time outdoors or who were wearing clothing that covered the majority of their skin their main source of Vitamin D was most likely through the food that they ate and possibly through cod liver oil if they took any of that. There may have been some small amount of Vitamin D production through skin exposure or through light-colored natural fiber clothing, but food and/or cod liver oil were probably their main sources of Vitamin D. For those who were able to eat a nutritious diet that included foods such as fish, eggs, and other animal foods from animals raised outdoors they had a decent chance of being able to get enough Vitamin D.

Those who didn't have much sun exposure and who also weren't able to eat a nutritious diet or who ate a diet that was lacking in those foods were probably the most likely to be deficient in Vitamin D. It makes sense that those in more crowded cities who were poor probably struggled the most with Vitamin D deficiency because they would have been lacking both the sun exposure and the ability to eat enough nutritious food.

Those who lived in more rural areas and who spent a lot of time outdoors may have been able to get some Vitamin D through sunlight, especially if they had some amount of skin exposure through rolled-up sleeves while working, etc. And even those in the country who were poorer or lower middle class could have had more ability to get nutritious food from fishing and raising farm animals such as chickens, pigs, etc.

In general, because of the fact that many people in the 1800s tried to cover most of their skin through clothing, hats or bonnets, etc. and because cod liver oil was becoming more popular but wasn't something that everyone would have been taking, it seems like food was probably the most likely way that people in the 1800s could have gotten enough Vitamin D.

Modern Day Vitamin D Sources

Although we have modern day testing for Vitamin D and multiple choices of Vitamin D supplements available in any pharmacy or grocery store as well as online stores, we also have the same sources of Vitamin D that were available in past centuries as well.

Getting some safe sun exposure (by gradually exposing yourself to sunlight a little bit at a time if you haven't been used to going out in the sun and by getting out of the sun as soon as you start to feel uncomfortably warm) is one way to help to increase Vitamin D levels. The app that I mentioned earlier called My Circadian App has a Vitamin D timer feature that you can use to figure out what would be a good amount of time to stay in the sun based on your skin type, the amount of clothing you are wearing and the amount of clouds in the sky. It's always good to avoid getting a sunburn, of course, and this app can help with figuring out how much time might be a good amount to be in the sun without reaching the point of getting a sunburn. There's also lots of good information in the section called "video guides and articles," too about Vitamin D and other information about the sun and light in relation to circadian rhythm, etc.

As far as foods are concerned, some of the same food sources of vitamin D are easily available today. While a traditional fat like lard from pasture-raised pigs isn't something you'll find at most grocery stores (although you might see it at a health food store or you might be able to find some at a farmer's market etc.) there are other food sources that are pretty easily accessible. Fatty fish are easy to find in most places, and eggs from pasture-raised chickens are often available, too. And, even though my personal preference is to eat foods that have naturally-occurring Vitamin D, there are quite a few foods now that are fortified with additional Vitamin D for anyone who chooses to go that route.

Cod liver oil is also widely available today as well. And while it might have a reputation for having a horrible taste, there are different options now such as flavored cod liver oils and also oils that are processed in a way that gives them a milder taste that might not exactly be pleasant but that aren't terrible either. And cod liver oil capsules are a modern-day convenience, too, for avoiding the taste altogether by swallowing a capsule rather than taking a liquid version.

I'm not currently taking any cod liver oil and I don't personally feel that I need to right now because I feel like I am getting a sufficient amount of Vitamin D from sunlight exposure and also a some from the foods I eat, but cod liver oil is something that I have taken in the past on occasion and it is something that I would consider taking again in the future. As far as supplements go, cod liver oil would be my preferred choice of Vitamin D supplement because of the naturally occurring Vitamin D rather than added synthetic Vitamin D (at least in some cod liver oils. Some have added Vitamins, so it' a good idea to check for that if you want naturally-occurring ones).

This is just my opinion and preference, of course, but I feel like it makes sense that our bodies would be able to recognize a naturally occurring source and be able to process and use it better than a synthetic source, so I like to stick with naturally occurring vitamins and minerals in whole foods whenever possible and use synthetic sources only when really necessary.

When I've taken cod liver oil before one of the places where I've found a good source of cod liver oil is at Perfect Supplements. I like the fact that they focus on high-quality natural supplements that come close to getting your nutrients from real food. I'm an affiliate with Perfect Supplements, and I also have a discount code "HERITAGEHEALTH10" that my readers can use to save 10% at checkout.

The Rosita extra virgin cod liver oil is the kind from Perfect Supplements that I've taken in the past that I personally feel is one the best quality cod liver oils. The main reasons why I like this type of cod liver oil is because it is minimally processed and because it has naturally occurring Vitamins A and D. Some cod livers oils have synthetic Vitamin A and D added back in because the naturally occurring vitamins were destroyed during the processing. Since this is a supplement that is on the pricier side it's one that's probably best to save for times when you feel like you could really use the extra support like during the winter months when Vitamin D is harder or even impossible to get from sunlight, depending on where you live or during other times when you might feel like you need an additional source of Vitamin D because you know you're not getting enough through your diet.

This is a liquid cod liver oil (although they have a capsule version, too), so you do taste a little bit of a fishy taste, but this cod liver oil is really quite mild in my opinion. It's not something I would take just for the fun of it because it doesn't really taste good, but it's not the sort of bad taste that I would have expected from the typical reputation that cod liver has either. When I've taken it I've just had a drink of water afterward and the taste hasn't bothered me much, but it could also probably be mixed with a stronger tasting juice or drink, too.

They also have soft gels that you can swallow if you don't want to take a liquid cod liver oil. I've never tried the soft gels, so I can't say how they taste (although I would guess they wouldn't have much of a taste since the cod liver oil is enclosed in a gel capsule). In comparing the label of both the liquid and the soft gels, though, it looks like the liquid cod liver oil has a higher amount of Vitamin D per serving, so that would be something to keep in mind if one of your main reasons for taking cod liver oil was for the Vitamin D content. It seems like you would need to take more soft gels to equal the same amount of Vitamin D as the straight liquid, so that would make the soft gels more expensive than the liquid version, too.

There are lots of other cod liver oil and Vitamin D supplements available today, too, of course, but that's one that I've tried and that I think is a good quality one. And I think that with some intentionality and planning it could be possible for at least some people to get enough Vitamin D from sun exposure and from foods. Different situations may make that challenging for some, of course, and there are times when sun exposure may not be possible or when the foods that are highest in Vitamin D are foods that a person can't eat for one reason or another. And again, I'm not a doctor, so definitely do some more research and check with a medical professional if you have any concerns about your Vitamin D status. But I think it's interesting to explore some of the ways that people might have gotten Vitamin D during a time when the concept of a vitamin didn't even exist in most people's minds.

Sources

1. Wheeler BJ, Snoddy AME, Munns C, Simm P, Siafarikas A, Jefferies C. A Brief History of Nutritional Rickets. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2019 Nov 14;10:795. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2019.00795. PMID: 31798536; PMCID: PMC6867964.
2. Jones G. 100 YEARS OF VITAMIN D: Historical aspects of vitamin D. Endocr Connect. 2022 Apr 22;11(4):e210594. doi: 10.1530/EC-21-0594. PMID: 35245207; PMCID: PMC9066576.
3. Larson-Meyer DE, Ingold BC, Fensterseifer SR, Austin KJ, Wechsler PJ, Hollis BW, Makowski AJ, Alexander BM. Sun exposure in pigs increases the vitamin D nutritional quality of pork. PLoS One. 2017 Nov 14;12(11):e0187877. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187877. PMID: 29136033; PMCID: PMC5685574.

(Lori Elliott is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.)

The information in this post is not to be taken as medical advice and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease.