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VITAMIN D MILK The Council on Foods and Nutrition of the American Medical Association recognized the fortification of milk with vitamin D as being of public health significance. Food in general does not contain appreciable quantities of vitamin D. Its primary source is the action of sunlight on the skin. A small but not physiologically significant amount occurs normally in milk. However, milk is the only food the Council on Foods and Nutrition of the American Medical Association has approved for fortification with vitamin D. Milk provides the proportion of calcium and phosphorus that must be present with vitamin D for normal calcification of bones and teeth. To meet the requirements for acceptance by that Council, vitamin D milk must contain 400 International Units of vitamin D per quart, usually added in the form of a concentrate. The fortification of a large proportion of the fresh milk, and almost all evaporated milk, with vitamin D has contributed to the decline in the incidence of rickets, once a common scourge of infancy.
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