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Lots of people may need more vitamin D--is sun exposure a good way to get it? Date published: 9/27/2009
LIVING IN America This is how one article expresses the changing ideas about vitamin D--ideas that are being radically revised thanks to researchers such as Dr. Michael F. Holick, professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics at Boston University Medical Center. Somewhat infamous and something of a maverick, Holick claims we are in the midst of an "unrecognized epidemic" of vitamin D deficiency, which is "a disease of neglect." This deficiency causes not just the classic bone mineralization diseases such as rickets, osteomalacia and osteoporosis, but apparently also hypertension, heart disease, vascular disease, multiple sclerosis, cognitive impairment, diabetes, arthritis and a variety of different cancers. THE EARLY EPIDEMIC It was in the Industrial Revolution--when the population moved to dingy cities and away from sunlight--that children were found to be developing weak bones, bowed legs and growth delays from rickets. Vitamins had just been discovered, and it was realized that this was a deficiency illness that could be corrected with cod liver oil, which contains lots of vitamin D. (Fatty fish and cod liver oil are used for treatment to this day.) Then it was found that our skin is able to synthesize vitamin D, so exposure to sunlight could help prevent deficiencies. But use of sunscreens, pigmentation of the skin, obesity and living in northern climes severely restrict this ability. And in winter--especially in the northern states (north of Atlanta, approximately)--the sun is not strong enough to produce vitamin D. So we tend to be deficient by the end of winter. THE CONTROVERSY While there is growing consensus that vitamin D deficiency has become increasingly common, there's debate when it comes to how to treat and prevent it. Part of what has made Holick somewhat controversial is his recommendation that we deliberately expose ourselves to UV light--either sunlight or with tanning beds. He also questions the wisdom of slathering ourselves with sunscreen. "You'd wind up on 'America's Most Wanted' list for child abuse if you put your child outside without sunscreen," he quips. The dogma preached to us by the dermatologists, of course, is to avoid the sun like the plague because of the alarming rise in the prevalence of skin cancers.
Date published: 9/27/2009
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