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Peter Kramer / AP
Pale folks may benefit from vitamin D supplements, say British researchers, in a new study funded by Cancer Research UK.
Nicole Kidman-types, listen up: Your pasty self needs vitamin D supplements, say researchers at the University of Leeds in the UK (who, we suppose, would know such things).
Our sallow-skinned friends, obviously, can't spend much time in the sun without getting sunburned -- and that means they're not getting enough sunlight to make an adequate amount of vitamin D. Out of 1,200 people studied, 730 had too-low levels of vitamin D. They found that optimal levels of vitamin D occurred when participants reported six hours a day of sun exposure. The optimal amount is 60nmol/L, which, yes, reads like gobbledygook, but, basically -- levels lower than that mean you're more likely to get heart disease, and less likely to survive breast cancer if you get it.
Julia Newton-Bishop, the lead author of the study that was funded by Cancer Research UK, points out that fair-skinned folks living in climates like the UK (and Seattle, where I happen to live) are especially at risk of too-low vitamin D levels. But if you live in the UK or Seattle, you already knew that.
Do you take vitamin D supplements?
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Leave a Comment:
Who can spend 6 hours a day in the sun? And that much sun exposure isn't good for your skin - hello - skin cancer.
That's why you should take Vitamin D3 instead. Also take Vitamin K2, which serves to put the Vitamin D into your bones, and out of the blood.
My rhematologist recommended 2,000 I.U.'s of Vitamin D twice daily. I have fair skin, osteo and rhematoid arthritis plus bursitis. I'm not using it at this time, but want to know if I should be and in what amount?
Thank you very much and please reply by e-mail.
Mary Jane Pichoff
i take medication that has a warning to stay out of the sun----i
also have artirial filibration, or what ever thats called----
now what ????????/ i also take medication for "rapid heart"
control. my pacemaker has a hell of a time keeping up with it.
no mention is made in the article about the vitimin d in
milk-----why not ????
Actually...
A black person with very dark skin pigmentation will require about 10-fold longer exposure to simulated sunlight to make the same amount of vitamin D3 in their skin as does a lightskinned white person (Clemens et al., 1982).
My rheumatologist recommended I take 2,000 IU's of Vit D3 twice a day. I have osteo and rhematoid arthristis and also bursitis. I've already had a hip relacement in 2006. I'm not taking any at this time and wonder if I should. It has been recommended that I do not go outside, and I am very light-skinned. Should I or shouldn't I get back on this regumin (sp?)?
Vitamin D is now the miracle vitamin. I live in Florida but my doctor told me to take 1,000 Iu's in addition to the D that is in my multiple vitamin and calcium supplement. I am not convinced this is a good idea at all. Who knows???