Vitamin D

Sunshine - Your Natural Source for Vitamin D

 July 23, 2012: Read this great article about vitamin D. 

http://www.theprovince.com/health/Shedding+light+vitamin/6974132/story.html

Our official position on vitamin D here at PureSunscreen.com is very basic--vitamin D is best synthesized through direct sunlight, not supplements. The worldwide misconceptions about  sunscreenwill have to be adjusted sooner or later, to include the use of low SPF sunscreen with high antioxidant concentrations during short periods of sun exposure, in order to enable your body to receive the greatest benefit from the sun's UV light. This is why we make an SPF 10. Our SPF 10 filters 90% of UVB rays while protecting skin cells with its exclusive combination of 3 natural antioxidants. 

The problem with high SPF sunscreens is that they filter so much sun, they inhibit your body's ability  to synthesize the amount of vitamin D that is right for you.

Comments from Peter Zahner, inventor of the MelanSol® 100% Natural Skin Care formulas.

Sun exposure to the skin is the human race’s natural, most effective, and also most neglected source of vitamin D.

 Vitamin D sufficiency, along with diet and exercise, has emerged as one of the most important preventive factors in human health. Hundreds of studies now link vitamin D deficiency with significantly higher rates of many forms of cancer‚ as well as heart disease‚ osteoporosis‚ multiple sclerosis and many other conditions and diseases.

 We advocate natural vitamin D production through regular short periods of sun exposure without burning.

• Humans make 90 percent of our vitamin D naturally from sunlight exposure to our skin, specifically from ultraviolet B exposure, which naturally initiates the conversion of cholesterol in the skin to vitamin D3.
• Few foods naturally contain or are fortified with supplemental vitamin D. For example, an 8-ounce glass of whole milk is fortified with 100 IU (international units) of vitamin D, just 10 percent of what the most conservative vitamin D researchers now say we need daily. In contrast, sun exposure to the skin makes thousands of units of vitamin D naturally in a relatively short period of time.
• While vitamin D supplements are an alternative means of producing vitamin D when regular sun exposure is not possible, oral supplementation of vitamin D is not nature’s intended means of producing this vitamin.
• While overexposure to sunlight carries risks, the cosmetic skin care industry has misled the public into believing that any UV exposure is harmful. No research has shown that regular exposure to UV light without burning poses a significant risk of skin damage.
•  The UV rays from sunlight are essential for good physical and mental health. Sunlight is your body's primary and most natural source of vitamin D, which is absolutely necessary for the absorption of calcium for strong bone reformation to occur. Lack of sunlight or the use of improper sunscreens (high SPF's commonly containing high concentrations of chemical UV filters that block too much sunlight) may lead to vitamin D deficiency. What is therefore required is short periods of sunbathing, while using a chemical free sunscreen with a moderate SPF.
• Humans spend less time in the sun today than at any point in human history – which is why more than 1 billion people worldwide are vitamin D deficient.

Vitamin D from the Sun

Sunlight is the best and most effective natural source of vitamin D. Unlike dietary or supplementary vitamin D, the body handles the vitamin D from sunshine differently: From sunshine, the body takes only required amount of vitamin D, and de-metabolizes any extra. Vitamin D experts and many health groups now advocate 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily. That is five to ten times the old recommendations. As excessively vitamin D from dietary supplements may cause the body to over-process of calcium, sunlight is the safe and natural source of vitamin D.

*) Source: Holick, MF. Vitamin D Deficiency. New England Journal of Medicine, July 2007

Sun exposure to the arms and legs for 10-20 minutes. The amount of vitamin D produced depends mainly on the region and time of the year: The father away from the equator (higher latitude) you live, the less intense (UVB) the sun gets and the less vitamin D you will receive. A skin type 3 (Caucasian skin) in Miami in mid summer may need 10 – 15 minutes to get the required amount of vitamin D whereas the same person in New York would need 20 – 30 minutes of sun exposure. Darker-skinned individuals need more exposure than fair-skinned people to make the same amount of vitamin D. In northern climates sunlight is too weak in parts of the year to make any vitamin D – a period referred to as ‘Vitamin D Winter’.

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