Critique of Public Health Guidance for Vitamin D and Sun Exposure in the Context of Cancer and COVID-19.
Anticancer Res
; 42(10): 5027-5034, 2022 Oct.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2056773
ABSTRACT
Official public health pronouncements about sun exposure and vitamin D can be summarized as follows First, there is no such thing as a safe tan. Therefore, avoid exposing the skin to sunshine. Second, in the absence of sunshine, a daily intake of 800 IU/day (20 mcg/d) vitamin D or less is sufficient for the health needs of almost all members of the population. However, exposure of the skin to sunlight induces multiple mechanisms that lower blood pressure, while also initiating production of vitamin D, which is needed to produce a hormone that regulates multiple systems including the cellular biology that affects cancer mortality. Disease-prevention relationships point to a beneficial threshold for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D; the index of vitamin D nutrition] that is at least 75 nmol/l (30 ng/ml). To ensure the threshold for all adults, an average per-day minimum total input of vitamin D3 from sunshine/UVB exposure, and/or from food (natural food like fish or fortified food like milk), and/or vitamin supplementation of at least 4,000 IU/d (100 mcg/d) is required. Strong, although not Level-1, evidence indicates that the maintenance of that threshold will lower mortality overall, lower mortality from cancer, and lower the risk of certain other diseases such as respiratory infection and COVID-19.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Vitamin D Deficiency
/
COVID-19
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Topics:
Traditional medicine
Limits:
Animals
Language:
English
Journal:
Anticancer Res
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Anticanres.16011
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS