How much vitamin D? Ask your skin...

Now that we're right in the middle of winter, it's time to revisit vitamin D. But this time, let's look at it from another perspective - your skin type.

I don't know if your skin is pale white or a dark black. But it makes a difference. Researchers have devised a scale to evaluate skin types. The scale is called the Fitzpatrick scale. It classifies skin like this:

* Type 1 is fair and always burns, never tans.

* Type 3 is darker white skin that burns and tans

* Type 5 is brown skin that rarely burns, tans easily, etc.

Researchers used these skin types in a recent study. They wanted to know how long it would take each skin type to produce 400-1,000 IU of vitamin D from the sun. They had participants stand naked from the waist up at different times and in different cities. Here's what they found:

If you're a type 3, you would need only six minutes in the summer and 15 minutes in the winter at noon in Miami. If you're type 5, you'd need 15 and 29 minutes respectively.

In Boston, in midsummer, you could match Miami at noon. But in winter, it would take about one hour for type-3 skin and two hours for type-5 skin to make 1,000 IU of vitamin D. After 2:00 p.m. in the winter in Boston, it's impossible for even someone with Fitzpatrick type-1 skin to receive enough sun for his body to make even 400 IU of vitamin D.

Some in orthodox medicine will tell you simply to get outdoors. Well, it's clear that you could stand naked all day in Boston in the winter, freezing your .... off, and even if you have a dark skin type, all you would do is freeze your .... off. And, chances are, you spend little time outdoors in Boston's winter anyway.

Please don't take chances with vitamin D. It easy to get, cheap, highly effective, and can protect your bones, immune system, circulatory system, and nervous system. All in one little supplement. I find at least half my patients deficient in vitamin D when I test their blood. My recommended dose is 5,000 IU daily. Advanced Bionutritionals carries an excellent form of vitamin D3 made from sheep lanolin, which vegetarians can take. I take it every day!

Yours for better health and medical freedom,

Robert J. Rowen, MD

Ref: J Clin Endocrinol Metab., 2007; 92:2130.

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