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Thursday, February 1, 2018

Beware of so much tan

Por Jacky

Those of us who love the summer or even because of the rules imposed by fashion, wear a good tan of the skin is aesthetically very accepted and pleasant. In addition, there is the added benefit of the effects of the sun. However, although this helps produce vitamin D to the body, one study notes that excessive exposure to the sun's rays can reduce levels of the essential vitamin.

According to researchers from Brazil, tanned skin may offer some protection against the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays, but that increase in pigment blocks the synthesis of vitamin D, limiting the ability of the skin to produce it. The study's author, Francisco Bandeira, of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Pernambuco, Brazil, said his findings suggest that tanning of the skin limits the progressive increase in serum of vitamin D to optimal concentrations.

To conduct the study, the researchers examined about a thousand people of both sexes in Recife, between 13 and 82 years of age. All had significant daily exposure to the sun, and none used a sunscreen routinely or took vitamin D supplements. Using Fitzpatrick's skin phototype scale, a numerical measure of the skin color and type used by dermatologists, assessed the response of different types of skin to UV light. In this type of test, higher scores indicate darker skin tones, and a tendency to tan, not burn. The solar index of the participants was also calculated, which is calculated by multiplying the number of hours of exposure to the weekly sun, by the fraction of exposed skin.

The specialists compared the solar index scores and the skin type of the participants with their level of vitamin D in blood. Most of those who had a very high daily exposure to the sun had serum vitamin D levels lower than normal. 72 percent of the participants were vitamin D deficient. The study found that those lacking this nutrient tended to be older, and to have lower solar index values.

Bandeira said the research showed that, in a large sample of people living in a tropical region located 8 degrees south of the equator, with very high rates of sun exposure and extremely high UV radiation, most people had vitamin D in serum below 30 ng / ml (nanograms per milliliter), which is the threshold of normality.