Is Vitamin D3 vegan?

Key facts

Verdict

Depends on the brand

Category

Supplement

Also listed as

cholecalciferol

Best swap

Lichen D3

Why

Cholecalciferol is usually extracted from lanolin in shorn wool. Lichen-derived D3 is chemically identical and clearly labelled as vegan; D2 (ergocalciferol) from yeast is always vegan but slightly less effective.

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What is actually in it

Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is the form of vitamin D that human skin makes from sunlight and the form most often added to fortified foods and supplements. The commercial source has traditionally been lanolin — the grease washed from sheep's wool. The wool wax is refined to cholesterol, which is chemically converted to 7-dehydrocholesterol and then exposed to ultraviolet light, exactly mimicking what sunlight does in skin. The result is pure D3, but its raw material came from a sheep, so conventional D3 is not vegan. It hides in fortified breakfast cereals, plant milks (check the brand — some use vegan D3, some don't), margarines, orange juice, infant formula and most multivitamins, as well as cod-liver-oil capsules where the source is fish. Two fully vegan routes now exist: D3 produced from lichen, a slow-growing symbiotic organism, and D3 from algae; both are chemically identical to lanolin D3 and raise blood levels just as well. Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol), made by irradiating yeast or mushrooms, has always been vegan, though it is considered slightly less effective at maintaining blood levels than D3. On labels, 'cholecalciferol' alone means nothing about origin; look for 'vegan D3', 'from lichen' or a vegan trademark. Given that deficiency is common regardless of diet, a daily vegan D3 supplement — typically 10–25 µg (400–1000 IU) — is the simple solution.

Label codes to recognise

Cholecalciferol — Vitamin D3

Usually sheep's wool lanolin; lichen/algae if marked vegan

Ergocalciferol — Vitamin D2

Plant/fungal — always vegan

Vitamin D (unspecified) — D2 or D3

Check with manufacturer

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