Vitamin D and Sunshine - Health Benefits of the Sun

Not long ago, we worried about too much sun. Now, after years cossetted away like those blind mice in caves, we hear that maybe we (as usual) overdid the sun avoidance. The New England Journal of Medicine recently announced that Vitamin D deficiency is more widespread than previously thought. In a study of people with low risk factors for Vitamin D deficiency, 57% had below the recommended levels of Vitamin D.

Doctors have noticed the reappearance of a nearly forgotten disease - rickets - in children. Rickets, if you recall, is a bone disorder from the old days. Think of some poor little crippled shut-in from Dicken's day. When the body lacks adequate levels of Vitamin D, it does not produce enough calcium and phosphorus. Early signs of Vitamin D deficiency include

• nervousness

• muscle spasms

• leg cramps

• numbness in the extremities

Symptoms of Rickets include:

• bone malformation due to a softening of the bone

• bowed legs

• knock knees

• scoliosis (curvature of the spine)

• narrowing of the rib cage

• a protruding breast bone

• tooth decay

• late walking

• irritability

• restlessness

• heavy sweating
  

Vitamin D is absorbed by the skin from sunlight. The Vitamin D that we get from food is not fully active and needs to be converted by the liver. Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin that is toxic if you take too much, unlike Vitamin C which is water soluble, the excess flushed out of your system with urine.

Vitamin D allows the body to absorb calcium and phosphorus, that is why it is added to milk. Other nutritional sources of Vitamin D are dairy products, eggs (the yolk) cod liver oil, mackerel and salmon.

The last century has ushered in life changes that increase our chances of vitamn D deficiency. In past agrarian societies, people spent a lot of time outdoors in the suhshine, but population shifts into cities where most people work indoors has led to a decrease in our exposure to sunlight.

The melanoma scare of recent years led to an almost phobic reaction to sunshine and an overuse of sunblock. Children who, back in the day, spent their free time playing outside now sit inside like invalids. Of course, too much exposure to the sun is bad for you and does increase the chance of skin cancer, but we Americans, all too often have taken sunlight avoidance to an extreme.

Risk factors for Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with age, race, behavior and latitude.

Africans evolved dark skin pigment to block excessive sunlight, a needed protection in equatorial regions. But less sun exposure, due to life changes like urbanization, have greatly decreased many African-Americans appropriate levels of sun exposure. some studies suggest that nearly half of African- American women of child bearing age may be deficient in Vitamin D.

Aging and estrogen loss cause a loss of the body's ability to synthesize Vitamin D. There is a close association between low bone density and Vitamin D deficiency. Half of all women and one quarter of men between fifty and seventy-five years of age show some signs of Vitamin D deficiency. Osteoporosis is Latin for porous bones - bones that become weaker characterized by change in posture and susceptibility to bone fracture.

Elderly and home-bound people often see no sunshine. In the old days, sick or physically disabled folks were encouraged to sit out on a porch or deck for the benefits of sunshine and fresh air.

Lesser Vitamin D deficiency manifests in a loss of appetite, weight loss, insomnia and vision problems, symptoms we often attribute to old age.

Studies suggest that Vitamin d deficiency is associated with heart disease, arthritis, certain types of cancer including breast, colon, and prostate cancer. Vitamin D deficiency and limited sun exposure has also been associated with Multiple Sclerosis, lupus, diabetes, obesity and depression.

As grandmother used to say, everything in moderation. There is a huge difference between sun-tanning, lying unprotected for hours on a summer afternoon and managing to get the 15 minutes of unprotected sunshine a day recommended by doctors. Get your summer dose of sunshine in the morning and afternoon. Dark skinned people need more, up to 40 minutes a day.

Weight bearing exercise is a known preventative of osteoporosis. Take a walk or jog on a sunny day, get outside and back in the sun - your bones will thank you.