Fair-skinned people may need extra vitamin D
Fair-skinned people who are prone to sunburn may need to take supplements to ensure they get enough vitamin D, say experts.
It appears that those with pale skin, while not deficient, may still be lacking in the essential vitamin that the body makes from sunlight.
The Cancer Research UK-funded team say that even with a lot of sun exposure, those with fair skin may not be able to make enough vitamin D.
And too much sun causes skin cancer.
Clearly, for this reason, increasing sun exposure is not the way to achieve higher vitamin D levels in the fair-skinned population, say the researchers. But taking supplements could be.
Their work examined 1,200 people.
Of these, 730 were found to have “lower than optimal” vitamin D levels – and many of these were people with very pale, freckled skin.
See: BBCNEWS