UVR is a skin carcinogen, yet no studies link sun exposure to increased all-cause mortality. Epidemiological studies from the United Kingdom and Sweden link sun exposure with reduced all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality. Vitamin D synthesis is dependent on UVB exposure. Individuals with higher serum levels of vitamin D are healthier in many ways, yet multiple trials of oral vitamin D supplementation show little benefit. Growing evidence shows that sunlight has health benefits through vitamin D-independent pathways, such as photomobilization of nitric oxide from cutaneous stores with reduction in cardiovascular morbidity. Sunlight has important systemic health benefit as well as risks.

A study has found a possible link between vitamin D and improved immunity in a breakthrough in the fight against cancer.

The study in mice found that the vitamin encourages the growth of a type of gut bacteria which gives the animals better immunity to the disease.

The researchers found that mice given a diet rich in vitamin D had better immune resistance to experimentally transplanted cancers, and improved responses to immunotherapy treatment.

The researchers were surprised to find that vitamin D acts on specific cells in the intestine, which in turn increase the amount of a bacteria called Bacteroides fragilis.

According to the findings, the tumours did not grow as much, suggesting that the microbe gave mice better immunity to cancer.

FOUR out of ten adults and three out of ten children in Alicante province suffer from Vitamin D deficiency.

Despite some of Spain’s biggest levels of sunshine hours, a widespread use of high factor blocks to stop skin cancer(but reduce Vitamin D absorption) and a sedentary life style are behind the problem.

A lack of vitamin D can lead to heart attacks and cancer, according to studies.

Dr. Mari Angeles Medina, president of the Valencian Society of Family and Community Medicine, said: “Having very low values of this nutrient is related to cardiovascular disease and with oncological pathology.”

It's the holy grail for some people: how to possibly slow aging or wind back our body's biological clock despite the years ticking by. And if it's as simple as taking a daily pill, then even better.

Vitamin D has long been a favored candidate since it's important for building muscle and bone, which typically waste away or weaken as we age. Studies show that without enough vitamin D, people's age-related risk of muscle loss and falls increases.

‘For too long, dermatologists have been fixated on skin cancer, meaning we have not properly ­considered that sunlight has health benefits for us all,’ says ­Richard Weller, a professor of medical ­dermatology at Edinburgh University and an ­honorary consultant dermatologist at NHS Lothian.

What’s more, the new thinking is that sun-safety advice should be tailored according to skin tone — in particular, those with darker skin are thought to benefit the most from sun exposure, leading some experts to suggest they don’t apply as much sunscreen. As Dr Derrick Phillips, a consultant ­dermatologist in London and spokesperson for the British Skin Foundation, explains: ‘In the past, our sun safety messaging has combined into one: everyone should cover up and everyone should wear high-factor ­sunscreen. But it’s far more complex.

‘For instance, the relationship between UV ­exposure and skin cancer isn’t as strong for people with black or brown skin tones. They can still get skin cancers, but these cases aren’t usually linked to sun exposure and often occur in non-sun-exposed areas. But they will still be told that they need to apply SPF — when in fact that wouldn’t have ­protected them from these cancers at all.’

SOME of the best dietary sources of vitamin D3 include oily fish like salmon, sardines, pilchards, herring, and so on.  But a portion of these would provide around fifty per cent (5ug) of the recommended intake of 10ug and it isn’t advised to take two portions of fish per day to achieve your recommended daily intake of vitamin D3 as this would be reckless due to mercury levels, among other things. 

Avonmore brand protein milk is a decent source of vitamin D3 for adults with the Arla brand’s Whole Milk for Big Kids being a good option for 1 to 5-year-olds.  But again, you would need to take a lot of milk to achieve sufficient vitamin D3, which would probably be impractical. These foods (fish and milk) should just top up your vitamin D3 levels.

Vitamin D research money has dried up, say scientists. The US and British governments have turned away from funding large trials of the substance. The loss of funding is “a tragedy,” says Bruce W. Hollis, PhD, professor of pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina, who believes D has substantial untapped potential for generating health.1

The funding shift has developed over the last decade. It accelerated in 2019 in the wake of a massive study known as “VITAL” sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. VITAL (short for “Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial”)2 has profoundly shaped the vitamin D landscape, scientists say—limiting research money, persuading doctors’ organizations to steer members away from the vitamin, and sparking mainstream media articles expressing doubt about D’s value.

An example of the latter is a piece in Scientific American in its issue of January 2024, titled “How Much Vitamin D Do You Need to Stay Healthy?”3 The 4,000-word article by Christie Aschwanden is built around a review of VITAL. The subtitle sums up its main thrust: “Most People Naturally Have Good Vitamin D Levels. Overhyped Claims That the Compound Helps to Fight Diseases From Cancer to Depression Aren’t Borne Out by Recent Research.” Excerpts:

In this video interview Dr. JoAnn Manson discusses vitamin D and its impact on cancer, autoimmune diseases and immune function.

When it comes to the supplement aisle, multivitamins, omega-3s and probiotics might score more shelf real estate. However, if that multi doesn’t come with a dose of vitamin D, your doctor might recommend adding another pill to your routine. 

Roxana Ehsani, M.S., RD, CSSD, a Miami-based board-certified sports dietitian, explains that vitamin D is one of four fat-soluble vitamins (A, E and K are the others). It’s also a hormone our body creates after being exposed to the sun, playing “many important roles in our body,” adds Ehsani. These include supporting your immune system, muscle and nerve function, your body’s ability to absorb calcium and more.

In summer, Australia has one of the highest UV indexes in the world. So, it may be surprising to learn that about one in four of us are deficient in vitamin D.

At least 80 per cent of a person’s vitamin D intake comes through sun exposure, as the skin absorbs and converts UVB radiation. 

“We have surprisingly high levels of vitamin D deficiency considering our climate,” said Professor Rebecca Mason, a bone and skin researcher at the University of Sydney. She attributes the trend to both efforts to protect the skin from melanoma and lifestyle factors.

“Not everybody has an opportunity to be outside in the sun,” she said. “If you’re not well or mobile, you tend not to get outside. Office workers are inside for most of the day. And there are quite a few people in the community who wear covering clothing for modesty and custom.”

by Agnieszka Libudzka
How does vitamin D protect against the most common diseases and at the same time promote healthy ageing? The key to explaining the mechanism may be linking the body's individual response to vitamin D with immunocompetence (potent immunity).
"The results of our research suggest that immunocompetence describes not only an individual's ability to resist pathogens and parasites, but also to fight non-communicable diseases and the aging process itself," says Professor Carsten Carlberg from the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research at the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) in Olsztyn, a biochemist who specializes in vitamin D research.

Vitamin D deficiency is indeed a common issue in Canada and in other countries located at higher latitudes, where sun exposure can be limited, especially during the colder months. Vitamin D is crucial for bone health, immune function, and has been linked to mood regulation among other health benefits. The body primarily produces vitamin D through skin exposure to sunlight, specifically UVB rays. In locations like Canada, the angle of the sun during the fall and winter months significantly reduces the production of vitamin D, contributing to the prevalence of deficiency.

Glaucoma, a group of eye diseases, is generally the result of pressure on the eyes. It damages the optic nerve responsible for transmitting visual information. Age is one of the risk factors for glaucoma, but over the years, researchers have also found a link between vitamin D deficiency and glaucoma. Vitamin D is mostly known for contributing in bone health. But can vitamin D also help in treating glaucoma? On World Glaucoma Day, we tell you the connection between vitamin D and glaucoma.

Researchers found that current vitamin D dosing recommendations are not helping individuals achieve optimal vitamin D levels, thus putting them at risk of experiencing a cardiac event, according to a randomized trial.1

According to the study, low vitamin D levels are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events, such as heart attack or stroke. Further, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency—defined as less than or equal to 20 ng/mL—in the United States is estimated at 40%. Currently, the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin D in the US is 600 to 800 IU.

Using the randomized event-driven trial, Target-D, the researchers sought to provide an overview of dosing and titration for individuals to achieve vitamin D serum levels greater than 40 ng/mL.

Scots may be at a far higher risk of dementia because of their low levels of vitamin D, according to new research.

Experts are calling on ministers to review their guidance on the vitamin in a bid to fight the illness, which is Britain’s biggest killer and costs the country £2billion a year.

The study shows that people deficient in the sunshine vitamin have a 58 per cent greater chance of dementia.

New Australian guidelines balance the risk of getting too much sun exposure with the benefits of vitamin D

Growing evidence about the health importance of sun exposure and genetic differences in the population have prompted Australia to adopt new sun safety guidelines.

The research informing the update was published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health on Tuesday, and led by Prof Rachel Neale from the QIMR Berghofer medical research institute in Brisbane.

The guidelines are endorsed by health bodies including Cancer Council Australia and the Australasian College of Dermatologists.

“A major step forward for this position statement is that it does recognise that we have a diverse population and that sun protection is less critical for people with very dark skin,” Neale said.

Scientists have shown that storing your eggs on the worktop rather than in the fridge—and how you cook them—matters when it comes to preserving vitamin D, known as the "sunshine vitamin."

Researchers at Newcastle University analyzed vitamin D-enriched eggs from the popular brand Happy Egg Co. to determine how the concentration of the vitamin was affected by how they were cooked and stored.

Vitamin D is known to help keep our bones, teeth, and muscles healthy, as well as being important for strong immunity. However, some research also suggests that people with low vitamin D levels have a higher risk of developing seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which is especially common during the winter months.

NOT taking a vitamin D supplement could raise your risk of dementia, a study suggests.

People with deficiencies of the vital nutrient were up to a quarter more likely to suffer the memory-robbing condition, German researchers found.

But taking the 3p pills regularly reduced the risk of deficiency from 21.5 per cent in the general population to 6.9 per cent in those who were supplementing.

Dr L-Ju Chen, of the German Cancer Research Center, said: “Our findings indicate potential benefits of vitamin D supplementation for dementia prevention.”

Around 944,000 Brits are currently living with dementia and experts predict the numbers will exceed one million by the end of the decade.

“Get out in the sun and take your shirt off,” my wife Adi commanded. This wasn’t foreplay, this was a directive, “You need to expose your skin to the sun at least once a day so you can soak up that lovely Vitamin D.”

To any guy out there who has been married, you know the drill. You have two choices when your wife asks you to do something:

1. Fight it and make life difficult until you finally relent and just do what you were asked.

2. Just do what you’re asked to do and ask as few questions as possible to eliminate the rather lengthy reply.

Exposure to sunlight has been a central part of human life since the beginning of time. The sun’s rays do more than just provide light for visibility. They contribute to our overall health and well-being in many ways. In fact, moderate exposure to sunlight can bring about several health benefits, ranging from the production of vitamin D to mood regulation. However, like any good thing, it has to be received in moderation. This article will delve into the benefits of sunlight, how much exposure is recommended based on skin tone, the role of sunscreen, and how to integrate sunlight into your daily routine in a healthy manner.