I recently ran across an article from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition entitled, Vitamin D: importance in the prevention of cancers, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
It concludes that the easiest way to get Vitamin D is from the sun. But we all know that overexposure to the sun raises the risk of getting skin cancer. So how much sun is adequate for Vitamin D?
The simplest way to obtain vitamin D is from moderate exposure to sunlight. I recommend that exposure of hands, face and arms, or arms and legs to sunlight for a period equal to 25% of the time that it would take to cause a light pinkness to the skin (1 minimum erythemal dose) is sufficient not only to satisfy the body’s requirement, but also to make sufficient amounts of vitamin D to store in the body for use on rainy days and during times when sun exposure is inadequate to produce enough vitamin D in the skin.
In other words, if 20 minutes of exposure to the sun causes your skin to turn pink, then five minutes of exposure should give you an adequate supply of vitamin D.
Vitamin D: importance in the prevention of cancers, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
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