14 DAY TRIAL // According to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Leeds, in the United Kingdom, it could be that people with fair skin and pale complexions may not be receiving the appropriate amounts of vitamin D. These deficiencies could be mitigated for with vitamin supplements.
The findings also apply for people who get burned too quickly if they walk in sunlight. In the case of pale skin, standing in the Sun may be a burden, and these people would rather avoid doing this. But shying away from sunlight has unwanted repercussions.
In order to understand them, one must first consider that the human skin is capable of producing all the vitamin D it needs when exposed to sunlight. Experts estimate that as little as 10 minutes of exposure to sunlight per day produces the vitamin D amount needed for 24 hours.
But pale people may have a tendency to spend a very short time in sunlight, in order to avoid sunburns. But, in doing so, they deprive their skin of the chance to synthesize vitamin D, which the body can then be used to prevent additional sunburns.
Details of the Cancer Research UK-funded investigation were published in the latest issue of the esteemed medical journal Cancer Causes and Control. One of the most important implication that the research has is that skin cancer patients suffering from melanoma should be given vitamin D as well.
During the new study, the team surveyed more than 1,200 individuals, and found that 730 of them had lower-than-normal vitamin D levels. Of the second group, those with pale skins and fair complexions exhibited the lowest levels.
“Fair-skinned individuals who burn easily are not able to make enough vitamin D from sunlight and so should take vitamin D supplements,” explains Leeds Cancer Research center expert, professor Julia Newton-Bishop. She is also the lead author of the journal entry.
“This should be considered for the majority of populations living in a mild climate like the UK and melanoma patients in particular,” the investigators add. She explains that people should have at least 60nmol/L of vitamin D in their system every day.
“We must be careful about raising the definition of deficiency or sufficiency to higher levels until we have more results from trials showing that maintaining such levels has clear health benefits and no health risks,” expert Sara Hiom adds.
“We do know that some groups can have a higher risk of vitamin D deficiency. These include people with naturally brown or black skin who need much more sunlight to increase their vitamin D levels, pregnant women and people who don't go outside much,” adds the expert, who is the director of health information at Cancer Research UK.