Vitamin D Facts and Skin
Factor #1: Use of Sunscreen: In order for the skin to make vitamin D, it is necessary that the skin gets UVB rays from sunshine. Consequently, sunscreens that block the sun’s UVB radiation also stop your skin from manufacturing Calcitriol (Vitamin D). This is an important factor to keep in mind, especially because sunscreen protects us from the sun’s damaging effects, including premature aging of the skin and skin cancer.
Factor #2: Skin Melanin content: The melanin content of the skin also determines how well the dermal tissues can make Calcitriol from the sun’s rays. The darker the skin color, the more difficult it is for your skin to make vitamin D. This is because melanin is a natural sunscreen that filters out UVB radiation, which is very important for vitamin D manufacturing.
Factor #3: Body Composition: vitamin D is a vitamin soluble in lipids, which means it is stored in your fat tissue. The more fat you have, the more Calcitriol is stored in the body lipids, which means less vitamin D makes its way into your circulation, this is called decreased bioavailability. Vitamin D deficiency is strongly correlated with obesity and many scientific studies have shown that there is substantially decreased bioavailability of vitamin D in obese people.
Factor #4: A Person’s Age: Age also reduces the skin’s natural ability to make vitamin D from the rays of the sun. Scientific studies have shown that a seventy year old individual makes approximately four times less vitamin D from the sun than a twenty year old. Knowing this difference is extremely important for the elderly who may spend minimal amount of time in the sun, and exclusively rely on daily sun exposure for their vitamin D needs.
Although our bodies are capable of producing plenty of vitamin D from the sununder the perfect conditions, the aforementioned factors affect the ability of vitamin D synthesis by our skin. It is extremely important to understand that vitamin D attained through dietary sources is not influenced by any of these limiting factors. The FDA daily requirement of vitamin D is only 400IU, however, several scientific studies contest this dosage and seem to indicate a need for a higher daily intake. The National Institute of Medicine has taken this in to account and officially suggests 2,000IU per day for healthy adults. Due to the lipid-solubility of vitamin D, doses higher than 10,000 IU every day may be toxic unless prescribed by a physician .
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