Vitamin D primarily promotes the production of melanin in your skin, which gives your skin a darker pigment. The deficiency may result in hypopigmentation disorders wherein our skin develops white spots and patches. Studies suggest that lower vitamin D levels are associated with vitiligo and other autoimmune skin disorders.
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Does low vitamin D cause hyperpigmentation?
Kaufman concluded that darker skin pigmentation is associated with lower serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration. Serum vitamin D level also appears to be related to intake of vitamin D – rich foods and multivitamins containing vitamin D, but not self-reported level of sun exposure or use of sun protection.
How does vitamin D production matter in explaining skin pigmentation?
Skin pigmentation, i.e., melanin, absorbs the UVR that initiates vitamin D synthesis, and hence decreases the vitamin D that is made for a given exposure compared to less pigmented skin. This has been observed in UVR intervention studies [7] and more generally.
What is the relationship between skin color and vitamin D?
Studies have shown that individuals with darker skin pigmentation require longer or more intense ultraviolet radiation exposure to synthesize sufficient levels of vitamin D. In other words, if you have darker skin, you tend to make less vitamin D in the sun than people with lighter skin.
What deficiency causes skin pigmentation?
The hyperpigmentation related to vitamin B12 deficiency is more common in darker-skinned patients. Few other cases of skin hyperpigmentation due to vitamin B12 deficiency have been reported in the literature.
Why do darker people need vitamin D?
The body naturally produces vitamin D in response to the skin's exposure to sunlight. People with darker skin pigmentation, like African-Americans, are at greater risk for vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency because the higher presence of melanin reduces the body's ability to produce vitamin D.
Does vitamin D turn your skin darker?
Although vitamin D is essential for skin health, its primary role is the promotion of melanin formation, which may cause more skin darkening.
Which vitamin is good for skin pigmentation?
Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is used as a treatment modality in depigmentation of hyperpigmented spots on the skin and gingiva.
Does vitamin D stimulate melanin?
Vitamin D is known to enhance the rate of melanin synthesis; and this may concurrently regulate the expression of furin expression.
Do you need more vitamin D if you have darker skin?
There's no exact guidance for how much sun we need each day to maintain healthy vitamin D. This is partly because different people have different needs. Some people may need more sun exposure because they have darker skin, which takes longer to generate vitamin D.
Why am I suddenly getting pigmentation?
Causes of hyperpigmentation include: Skin inflammation (post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation) Use of certain drugs (such as minocycline, certain cancer chemotherapies, and birth control pills) Hormone system diseases such as Addison disease.
What is the root cause of pigmentation?
Hyperpigmentation is caused by an increase in melanin. Melanin is the natural pigment that gives our skin, hair and eyes their color. A number of factors can trigger an increase in melanin production, but the main ones are sun exposure, hormonal influences, age and skin injuries or inflammation.
Can you reverse skin pigmentation?
Chemical peels, laser therapy, microdermabrasion, or dermabrasion are all options that work similarly to rid skin of hyperpigmentation. These procedures work to gently remove the top layer of your skin where the dark spots lie.
Do lighter skinned people produce more vitamin D?
However, although individuals with light skin pigmentation are more efficient at producing vitamin D, they will be affected by an elevated sunburn response, a lower tanning ability [4], and a greater susceptibility to skin cancers [5].
Why does lighter skin produce more vitamin D?
Light skin provides better absorption qualities of ultraviolet radiation. This helps the body to synthesize higher amounts of vitamin D for bodily processes such as calcium development. Light-skinned people who live near the equator with high sunlight are at an increased risk of folate depletion.
Why does the UVB rays on the equator decrease?
At more northern or southern latitudes, the level of UVB rays hitting Earth’s surface decreases due to the planet’s tilt. The equator is bathed year-round in UVB rays, but seasonal variations mean that people in Northern Europe receive virtually no UVB exposure in winters.
What is the process of skin lightening called?
The process of long-term skin lightening, known as “depigmentation, ” occurred due to a series of mutations in a gene called SCL24A5, Jablonski said. That gene controls the size of melanin packets in skin and the types of melanin produced. “All of us can use this as a wonderful teaching tool,” she said.
Why is the sun important?
Harmful UV radiation burns us, damages our DNA, and can sow the seeds for melanoma. But the sun is essential to our healthy development and our immune systems, because sun-exposed skin produces Vitamin D.
What is the role of vitamin D in the body?
With receptors located in the cells of many major organs and in the immune system, Vitamin D helps in calcium absorption and prevents aberrant cell division. UVB radiation catalyzes its creation in our skin.
Does humidity affect UVB?
As a result, Jablonski said, humans living near the equator developed darker skin tones, while those in northern climates developed lighter hues. High humidity also decreases UVB levels, as marked by the contrast between skin tones of early humans living in dry equatorial Africa and moist equatorial South America.
Can vitamin D cause melanoma?
But even with persistent UV exposure, malignant melanoma doesn’t set in until later in life.
Who is John Arnst?
John Arnst is a senior English and Biology major at the University of Florida. He has interned at the University of Florida’s Global Pathogens Laboratory, loves books and viruses, and would one day like to write books about viruses. Reach him at [email protected].
Why do African Americans have lower levels of vitamin D?
This difference appears largely due to skin melanin (pigment) absorbing the UV-B rays that are required for the deep layers of skin to manufacture the Vitamin D precursor [ 24-26 ]. Other non-white racial groups who live in the industrialized North (eg North America and Europe) or in urban environments in the less developed South (eg Africa) also tend to have lower Vitamin D levels [ 27-30 ]. The higher levels of melanin are helpful for shielding the skin from the harmful effects of UV-B, such as skin cancer, but those same UV-B rays are needed to make Vitamin D, and if dark skin is not exposed to enough skin, Vitamin D deficiencies can occur.
Why is melanin important for skin?
The higher levels of melanin are helpful for shielding the skin from the harmful effects of UV-B, such as skin cancer, but those same UV-B rays are needed to make Vitamin D, and if dark skin is not exposed to enough skin, Vitamin D deficiencies can occur.
Is vitamin D a biological factor?
However, anecdotal reports indicate that even wealthy, high-status African-Americans have succumbed to COVID at high rates; [ 16,17 ], and studies suggest that Vitamin D is an important biological factor that may also contribute to COVID-19 outcomes [ 18 ]. Evidence suggests a potential relationship between melanin, Vitamin D, and COVID outcomes.
Is it safe to take vitamin D with a softgel?
Higher levels of supplementation are generally needed in individuals with darker skin, but it has been shown to be safe and effective [ 31-35 ].
Does vitamin D cause pneumonia?
However, the evidence is strong that low levels of Vitamin D in dark-skinned individuals are a cause for worse outcomes to other respiratory infections such as the flu and pneumonia [ 36 ]. Given that dark skin predisposes people to both low levels of Vitamin D and worse outcomes to COVID, and that low levels of Vitamin D are associated ...
What factors affect skin pigmentation?
Various factors, such as aging, outdoor activities, and consistent UV exposure over the years, may influence skin pigmentation and the association between skin pigmentation and vitamin D levels, according to the study.
Which genetic variant is associated with the highest levels of vitamin D?
The genetic variant rs2675345, which is near a region in the gene called SLC24A5, showed the strongest association with skin pigmentation and vitamin D deficiency. Previous studies have shown that individuals with darker skin pigmentation require longer or more intense ultraviolet radiation exposure to synthesize sufficient levels of vitamin D.
What Can We Say?
Overall, skin color affects the way in which vitamin D is absorbed into the body and how the body utilizes the nutrient. People who have darker skin require more time outside in the sun in order to reach sufficient levels of vitamin D. Given that people around the world are spending more time indoors due to the pandemic, it has been more difficult to get the vitamin D that they need. Since very few foods naturally contain a good source of vitamin D, people are not quite able to get enough of the nutrient through their diets (3). Therefore, one of the most accessible ways to get vitamin D is take vitamin D supplements.
Why is dark skin important?
Dark Skin: Protection at the Cost of Production. According to research, the higher amount of melanin in dark skin interferes with the skin’s ability to create vitamin D from sunlight. It helps reduce how much UV radiation penetrates through the epidermis (2).
Why is melanin important for skin?
As I briefly mentioned earlier, melanin in the skin serves as natural protection to the sun. Melanin is the main determinant of the color of our skin and hair. People with dark skin have more melanin in their epidermis than people with light skin. Looking at vitamin D specifically, melanin absorbs some of the UV radiation that comes from the sun, dissipating the photons. It therefore competes with 7-dehydrocholesterol (one of the first intermediates in the path to vitamin D synthesis) in interacting with the UVB rays (2). This means that skin pigmentation impacts the effectiveness of vitamin D synthesis in the skin.
How much vitamin D does a black person have?
In one particular study of about 2100 adults, the average total level of vitamin D for B lack Americans was a bit below 16 ng/mL while the average for white Americans was about 26 ng/mL (4). Interestingly, Black Americans typically have low levels of vitamin D in their blood, but they have about the same amount of the active form vitamin D as White Americans.
Is it hard to find the right vitamin D?
Finding the right vitamin D supplement for you doesn’t have to be difficult. Take into consideration the ingredients, the size of the pill, the amount of active ingredient, and various other factors before you made your decision. The supplement should help you fulfill your health goals, bringing you closer to a healthier life step by step.
Do black people have vitamin D?
Another finding that has perplexed researchers is that blacks typically have lower levels of vitamin D in their blood than whites, yet they have lower incidence of falls and fractures. They are also reported to have greater bone mass. This stands at odds with existing research for other Americans because typically lower vitamin D levels correlated with more falls and fractures. Low levels of vitamin D in white Americans and Mexican Americans corresponded to increased risk of osteopenia and fractures, while it does not relate that way in Black Americans. Based on these results, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the Black American community stands as a bit of a mystery. It seems therefore that optimum levels for vitamin D may vary for different ethnic and racial groups.
Do darker skinned people need more sunlight?
With all of this information combined, this means that darker-skinned people must spend more time out in the sun to produce the same amount of vitamin D as lighter-skinned people. This could mean at least three to five times longer exposure. Darker-skinned people, such as Black Americans and dark-skinned Asians, are more susceptible to developing vitamin D deficiency if they do not receive enough sunlight exposure and do not take vitamin D supplements. Further research is needed to decide if these lower vitamin D levels have significant health consequences for darker-skinned people (3).