Direct sunlight promotes Vitamin D

Vitamin D is manufactured in the skin after direct exposure to UV light--accounting for 90% of the daily recommended intake. Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, are finding this often-ignored, bone-building vitamin can play a significant role in the prevention of heart disease and the function of other critical body systems.

Regular and moderate exposure to sunlight is the best way to help the body manufacture the Vitamin D it needs. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with more than 100,000 additional cases of cancer and 30,000 annual cancer deaths. Moreover, sun exposure in small doses is not linked to melanoma. Rather, intermitent sunburn--particularly among those who are predisposed to it--is believed to be the risk factor.

"I think an overall shift in thought on the Vitamin D system is in order," argues Robert Simpson, professor of pharmacology in the University of Michigan Medical School. "We're getting a signal from sunlight to produce Vitamin D."

"The idea that we should protect ourselves from the sun all the time is misguided and unhealthy," contends Michael Holick, director of the Vitamin D, Skin and Bone Laboratory and professor of medicine, physiology, and biophysics at Boston University Medical Center. "Possible overexposure to ultraviolet light should not be an excuse to scare people out of the sun entirely."

Experts say as little as 15 minutes of direct sunlight several times a week will provide the recommended dose.

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