Vitamin D deficiency vs Sunsmart
Notwithstanding, the fantastic work done by the cancer council and the looming high UV days of Summer. I wonder if, in the Winter months, we can be over cautious when it comes to effects of UV exposure?
Recently, a person I know was feeling unwell and went to the doctor to find he was suffering vitamin D deficiency. I was a bit amazed by this and yet not surprised all at the same time.
He works outdoors all the time and sensibly covers up and wears sunscreen. The problem for him was that during winter he was well and truly covered up and of course wears sunscreen.
I just heard of another person in Canberra who also was diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency.
This anecdotal evidence has me intrigued, so I googled Vitamin D deficiency and came up with quite a lot of information.
Chandramita Bora writes
"The most common cause of vitamin D deficiency is inadequate exposure to sunlight, as absorption of ultraviolet radiation of sunlight is crucial for synthesis of vitamin D. Therefore, factors that can prevent exposure to sunlight, can be the important causes of vitamin D deficiency. Such factors include spending most of the time indoors, keeping the whole body covered with thick garments, dark skin and using excessive sunscreen products on skin. Use of sunscreen products actually prevents sunlight from penetrating the skin, while presence of excess melanin in the skin, as in the case of dark skin, can also impair the absorption of ultraviolet radiation."
As there are a large amount of office workers in the Territory, I wonder if anyone has done any research into cases in the ACT of vitamin D deficiency and whether or not this is a health risk that has gone unidentified.
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