University of Leeds researchers say people with very pale skin may not be able to stay in the sun long enough to for the body to make enough vitamin D.

Which doesn’t seem to worry most Scandinavians!

By Tim Locke

4th October 2011 - If you have fair skin, you probably can't stay in the sun for too long before you start to burn, and that UK researchers say, could be causing a lack of vitamin D that may be helped with supplements.

Vitamin D and the sun

Getting enough sun to promote healthy vitamin D levels can be a difficult balance against the risk of melanoma or skin cancer.

Most people in the UK should get enough vitamin D though the summer sun to last them through the darker winter months. However, the Department of Health says a "significant proportion" of the population have low vitamin D levels. This has lead to more cases of the bone conditions rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.

The government already recommends vitamin D supplements for:

• All pregnant and breastfeeding women
• All infants and children from six months to five years, unless they are drinking 500ml or more a day of infant formula
• People who do not get sun, such as people confined indoors for long periods and those who cover their skin for cultural reasons
• People aged 65 years and over

Earlier this year the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued new guidance saying being out in the sun can be good for you, but prolonged exposure can significantly increase the risk of developing skin cancer. A rise in cases of rickets has been blamed on children covering up too much. In December last year, UK dermatologists and health charities issued a joint statement on the benefits of getting vitamin D from the sun.

Fair skin

Professor Julia Newton-Bishop, lead author of the study based in the Cancer Research UK Centre at the University of Leeds, tells us: "We've shown that fair-skinned individuals, people who burn in the sun, tend to have lower levels of vitamin D". She says her study backs up previous French and UK research, "It is intuitive because those people burn in the sun, and tend to protect themselves, partly because of concerns about skin cancer, but more because they don't like to get burnt."

Newton-Bishop, a specialist in melanoma skin cancer, says: "You have to stay out in the sun for rather longer than we had supposed to run at optimum levels of vitamin D. It's clear that people with fair skin find it difficult to manufacture enough vitamin D and protect themselves from burning."|