How Do You Get Vitamin D From Sun Without Risking Skin Cancer?
Dear Dr. Mirkin: How do you get enough sunlight for your body to make vitamin D without risking skin cancer?
Try to expose a small amount of bare skin to sunlight for a few minutes every day. Wear a shirt and a hat. Put sunscreen on your face, top of the ears, neck, arms and back of the hands. If you are blond or blue eyed, do not form pigment well, or have evidence of sun damaged skin, you should apply sunscreen to your legs also.
- • Non-melanoma skin cancer risk (basal and squamous cell skin cancers) is increased by cumulative sun exposure over a lifetime.
- • Recent data show that a single sunburn may cause a melanoma.
- • It appears that blond and blue-eyed people need less sun exposure to make vitamin D. People with dark skin, or those who become very dark when they tan need far more sun exposure to make vitamin D.
- • Being overweight or past 60 markedly increases your need for vitamin D.
- • Only UVB causes the skin to make vitamin D. UVA does not cause your skin to make vitamin D. Most suncscreens on the market almost completely block UVB. Window glass and clothes also block UVB.
- • Frequent bathing reduces vitamin D. Your sebaceous (oil) glands make vitamin D and secrete it onto your skin; it is then absorbed through your skin. Frequent bathing may wash away vitamin D before it can be absorbed.
- • The following changes in your skin predict skin cancer: first a mottling of pigment with lighter and darker spots, then the appearance of scaly areas. When the scaly areas start to feel rough like sandpaper, the damage is passing from the superficial skin down into the deeper skin and may become cancerous. Check with a dermatologist; these pre-cancers are very easy to treat.
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A practicing physician for more than 40 years and a radio talk show host for 25, Dr. Mirkin is a graduate of Harvard University and Baylor University College of Medicine. He is one of a very few doctors board-certified in four specialties: Sports Medicine, Allergy and Immunology, Pediatrics and Pediatric Immunology.
Read more at www.drmirkin.com.
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diane lassen
I do believe that you need more exposed skin for more like 15-20 minutes several times a week (on average) to get enough sunlight to make vitamin D. Also, that must be sans sunscreen for even a SPF8 will drastically reduce the amount of D your skin can make --by around 95%! You should stay in the sun until your skin gets a very very light pink--certainly not near getting burned! And then do not shower for about an hour so you do not wash off the D while it is being synthesized. Also, according to the Vitamin D COuncil, you need to have your exposure during peak sun hours-- 10 and 2---or when you are taller than your shadow. This is when the rays are direct enough to give you adequate UVBs.
Diane Lassen, RN, HHC
Anonymous
Sunscreen lets the harmful UVA rays right through plus many sunscreens contain chemicals known to be absorbed into the skin and known also to cause cancer. Sunscreen is not good for you! Wear a hat instead. And I don't know how anyone is going to get a decent amount of vit D if wearing harmful sunscreen even on their legs! Studies suggest the trick is to get decent sun but not so much as to get burned. Malignant melanoma is associated with lack of vit D which is caused by lack of sun. It is very hard to consume enough vit D food to make up for lack of sun. Incidence of malignant melanoma is only going up in the population of indoor office workers who get lots of UVA through glass windows but very little direct sun with its vit D creating UVB. Seventy five percent of Americans are vit D deficient from lack of sun and that number will go up if the recommended dosages of vit D are soon upped as expected. Adequate vit D is required for health so that means at least 75% of Americans' health is suffering. (percentages are higher amongst the darker skinned)
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