Avoiding sun may increase risk of vitamin D deficiency in light-skinned people

Today is a good day to share this article from News-Medical.net........there isn't much sun to be had in NC today. According to a study out of Stanford University, light skinned people who avaoid sun exposure are twice as likely to suffer from Vitamin D deficiency as those who do not avoid the sun. One interesting note is that the use of sunscreen did not significantly affect the blood levels of Vitamin D......it is theorized that it's likely because the people using sunscreen were not applying enough sunscreen or only using it sporadically.

I need to note on this that the study used a a Vitamin D level of 20 ng/ml (blood test) as the cutoff point for determining deficiency, which in many professional's opinions (including my own doctor) is far too low. Dr. Carr (my own physician) likes his patients to be at an optimal level of 70-100 ng/ml, and most integrative physicians use at least a level of 50 ng/ml as optimal. Even the lab I use (LabCorp) states that any level below 30 ng/ml is flagged as deficient, and the labs are notoriously slow to embrace the newer standards of sufficiency for any blood level. As always, check with your doctor about the optimal level for you. If you have not had your Vitamin D level checked, seriously considering doing so-----as we age, our bodies do not absorb Vitamin D from sunlight as efficiently as when we were younger. People who live in sunny climates are not immune to Vitamin D deficiency........Dr. Carr practices in the desert area of Southern CA, and he has a lot of patients who all but live on the golf course, and they are seriously deficient in Vitamin D.

Have a great weekend, everyone!