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National Documentation Centre (NDC)

Nutrition

What is Vitamin D Deficiency? Mixed Messages About Sun Exposure (Medical News Today:11
June 2010)

Vitamin D deficiency is when your body, more specifically your blood, does not have enough vitamin D.
This can be caused by the following factors:

Inadequate exposure to the right kind of sunlight

Inadequate intake from foods and supplements
Disorders in the gastrointestinal tract that limit absorption
Liver disorders
Kidney disorders
Some hereditary disorders (very rare)

Vitamin D deficiency can lead to the following conditions and illnesses:

Rickets - a disease of children and infants that interferes with normal bone formation - a failure to
mineralize bone. Bones become distorted and bend wrongly because they are soft. During the first three
decades of the 20th century rickets was mainly caused by lack of direct exposure to sunlight. The
ultraviolet rays necessary for vitamin D synthesis do not pass through ordinary window glass.

Osteomalacia - softening of the bone caused by demineralization (loss of mineral), mainly loss of calcium
from bone. This disorder only affects adults and can cause severe musculoskeletal pain.

Osteoporosis - reduced bone mineral density and increased bone fragility.

Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to the following diseases:

Hypertension (high blood pressure)

Heart failure, according to US researchers.
Ischemic heart disease
TB (tuberculosis)
Cancer
Periodontal disease
MS (multiple sclerosis)
Chronic pain
SAD (seasonal affective disorder)
Peripheral artery disease
Cognitive impairment
Cardiovascular disease among patients with diabetes
Parkinson's disease (possibly: we are not sure whether Parkinson's causes low vitamin D levels, or
whether low vitamin D causes Parkinson's) Alzheimer's disease, suspected by researchers from the
Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center.

Immune system problems - a University of Missouri nutritional sciences researcher found that vitamin D
deficiency is associated with inflammation, a negative response of the immune system, in healthy women.
Bacterial vaginosis - a common vaginal infection that increases a pregnant woman's risk of preterm
delivery, according to scientists at the University of Pittsburgh.

Mixed messages regarding sun exposure

For decades we have been told to stay out of the sun, to wear hats and cover ourselves with sun block to
protect against skin cancer - and also significantly reducing our levels of vitamin D. Add to that a
growingly sedentary lifestyle where we and our children spend more time indoors either watching TV or
in front of a computer monitor, and it is not surprising that millions of people have excessively low levels
of vitamin D in our system.

Then we are told that sunlight can rapidly make up for any vitamin D shortfall, while at the same time the
American Academy of Dermatology continues to recommend that the public obtain vitamin D from
nutritional sources and dietary supplements, and not from unprotected exposure to ultraviolet radiation
because of the skin cancer risk (article), and we despair.

Telling people to get their vitamin D from just food and supplements obviously does not work. People
have been told that for the last twenty years and vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency has increased
significantly. It is estimated that 50% of American elderly women consume far less vitamin D in their diet
than recommended. Consequently, vitamin D deficiency is a serious problem among the elderly in the
USA.

It is understandable why a dermatologist, who is in direct contact with skin cancer patients, advises people
to stay out of the sun. However, millions of people are and will develop other very serious diseases
because their vitamin D levels are too low. Skin cancer is one factor, but there are many other factors.

Large studies are required that can clearly tell us:

Why is the current policy of telling people to get just their vitamin D from nutritional sources not
working?
Is the current vitamin D problem greater than the skin cancer problem?
Is it possible to estimate what the impact of recommending 15 minutes twice a week of sun exposure
would be on skin cancer numbers, and the health benefits from a resulting lower incidence of vitamin D
deficiency in the population?
Some health authorities are starting to change their recommendations. Here is a quote from the Cancer
Council, Australia (2009):

Sun exposure is the cause of around 99% of non-melanoma skin cancers and 95% of melanomas in
Australia. However, exposure to small amounts of sunlight is also essential to good health. A balance is
required between avoiding an increase in the risk of skin cancer by excessive sun exposure and achieving
enough exposure to maintain adequate vitamin D levels.