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Skin Tip of the Month:  March 2006

The Sun and Vitamin D Controversy

So why is a proper Vitamin D level important?  Well, simply stated, Vitamin D is important in maintaining healthy bones, muscle strength, and balance.  A deficiency in Vitamin D can lead to rickets in children and thin bones in adults leading to falls and fractures.  Too much Vitamin D can be toxic. Vitamin D can be acquired through dietary foods, dietary supplements or from sun exposure.  All current studies demonstrating the beneficial effects of Vitamin D supplementation on bone health require concurrent calcium supplementation or a diet high in calcium.  Sun exposure alone only provides Vitamin D, not calcium.  Thus, dietary supplementation is superior to sunshine.  An argument by tanning enthusiasts and lobbyists for the tanning salon industry is that sun exposure provides for improved health of the body by making necessary Vitamin D levels.  In fact, some people even in the health care industry are discouraging the use of regular sunscreen application, especially in the aging population, to reduce the likelihood of developing vitamin D deficiency and osteoporosis.  I would like to put an end to this non-sense!  Let’s look at the facts:

● One in three fair-skinned or Caucasian skinned people will develop skin cancer in their lifetime

● Regular sunscreen use has been scientifically shown to reduce one’s likelihood of the two most common forms of skin cancer (basal cell and squamous cell skin cancer) and reduce photodamage which contributes to our “aging” appearance.

● Recognize that skin rejuvenation is a $35 billion/year industry!

● Importantly, there is no evidence that customary sunscreen use causes Vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency in otherwise healthy individuals.

● Most fair-skinned individuals will maximize their natural vitamin D synthesis from sunlight exposure within 5 minutes without sunscreen use and within 20 minutes using a sunscreen.  Additional exposures beyond this time will simple lead to damage without any other additional beneficial effects.

Here are a few helpful tips to remember in maintaining adequate blood levels of Vitamin D:

1)      Two 8-ounce glasses of fortified milk or orange juice/day

2)      Unprotected, incidental exposure to the sun on the face and backs of hands 3 times weekly for about 15 minutes.

3)      And the best method….a daily vitamin supplement containing Vitamin D (200-1000IU) and calcium!

For additional reading, see this excellent article written by Dr. Deon Wolpowitz and Dr. Barbara Gilchrist entitled “The Vitamin D questions:  How much do you need and how should you get it?”  It can be found in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 2006; 54:301-17.