340,000 US deaths annually due to insufficient sun (some due to low vitamin D) – July 2020

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Insufficient Sun Exposure Has Become a Real Public Health Problem

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(14), 5014; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17145014
by Lars Alfredsson 1,Bruce K. Armstrong 2,D. Allan Butterfield 3OrcID,Rajiv Chowdhury 4,Frank R. de Gruijl 5,Martin Feelisch 6,Cedric F. Garland 7,Prue H. Hart 8OrcID,David G. Hoel 9,*OrcID,Ramune Jacobsen 10OrcID,Pelle G. Lindqvist 11OrcID,David J. Llewellyn 12,Henning Tiemeier 13,Richard B. Weller 14OrcID andAntony R. Young 15

This article aims to alert the medical community and public health authorities to accumulating evidence on health benefits from sun exposure, which suggests that insufficient sun exposure is a significant public health problem. Studies in the past decade indicate that insufficient sun exposure may be responsible for 340,000 deaths in the United States and 480,000 deaths in Europe per year,
and an increased incidence of

• breast cancer,
• colorectal cancer,
• hypertension,
• cardiovascular disease,
• metabolic syndrome,
• multiple sclerosis,
• Alzheimer’s disease,
• autism,
• asthma,
• type 1 diabetes and
• myopia.

Vitamin D has long been considered the principal mediator of beneficial effects of sun exposure. However, oral vitamin D supplementation has not been convincingly shown to prevent the above conditions; thus, serum 25(OH)D as an indicator of vitamin D status may be a proxy for and not a mediator of beneficial effects of sun exposure. New candidate mechanisms include the release of nitric oxide from the skin and direct effects of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) on peripheral blood cells. Collectively, this evidence indicates it would be wise for people living outside the tropics to ensure they expose their skin sufficiently to the sun. To minimize the harms of excessive sun exposure, great care must be taken to avoid sunburn, and sun exposure during high ambient UVR seasons should be obtained incrementally at not more than 5–30 min a day (depending on skin type and UV index), in season-appropriate clothing and with eyes closed or protected by sunglasses that filter UVR

Table of Contents

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VitaminDWiki

5-30 minutes a day is NOT enough (if you do not supplement or use a UV lamp
Suspect that they think that 800 IU is enough
Need at least 3,000 IU daily - even in the winter

• Polish children need 45 minutes of noon sun to get 800 IU of Vitamin D – July 2020
• 1,000 IU of vitamin D from the sun not available in the winter (Switzerland too) – April 2019
• 25 minutes of daily sun provided less than half of the response as 500 IU of vitamin D (Korea) – RCT March 2019
• Vitamin D needed for 12 ng in winter in Finland – Whites 320 IU, Blacks 720 IU – July 2018
• 9 minutes of full noon sun daily is all you need (if have white skin and believe that 10 ng is enough) – Aug 2018
• Get enough Vitamin D from UK winter sun (if white skin and believe that 10 ng is enough) - Aug 2018
• Vitamin D needed for 12 ng in winter in Finland – Whites 320 IU, Blacks 720 IU – July 2018
• Vitamin D needed to get children to just 20 ng in winter 800 IU white skin, 1100 IU dark (Sweden) – RCT June 2017
• Vitamin D from safe sun: only 500 IU in 10 minutes when include windchill – Jan 2018

Note: about 3X more time in the sun is needed for seniors and those with dark skins

Items in both categories Noontime sun and Mortality:

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Mortality category starts with:

People die sooner if they have low vitamin D

click on image for details

• More vitamin D means fewer deaths – many studies
• Much more likely to live longer if higher vitamin D – 27,000 seniors Feb 2017
• 2,000 IU of Vitamin D daily to German Seniors would save 30,000 lives a year – March 2021
• Dr. Grant on vitamin D and mortality in VitaminDWiki
• Top 10 causes of death - low vitamin D is associated with every cause - Nov 2018
• Taking vitamin D extends life - 56 trials with 100,000 people - Dr. Greger video July 2016
• Much more likely to live longer if higher vitamin D – 27,000 seniors Feb 2017
• Low Vitamin D is associated with dying sooner (70 studies) – meta-analysis Jan 2019
• 4.8 X more likely to die within 28 days of ICU if low Vitamin D - Jan 2024
• Chance of dying in hospital cut in half by just 10 ng higher level of Vitamin D – April 2016
• Senior women having low vitamin D were 2X more likely to die - Sept 2023
• Risk of death after bone fracture was 6.6 X higher if less than 10 ng of vitamin D – June 2017

There are 321 articles in Mortality category

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Noontime sun and D category starts with

Noontime sun and D has 331 items

see also
No – 10 minutes per day of sun-UVB is NOT enough
Vitamin D Myths - SUN
Optimize vitamin D from the sun
Overview Suntan, melanoma and vitamin D
Overview UV and vitamin D
50 ng of Vitamin D - 100 hours of noon sunbathing OR 3 dollars of Vit D
3.3 X more likely to be Vitamin D deficient if wear long-sleeves – Oct 2022
Sun and UV
Avoiding the sun may be as bad as smoking - many studies
Vitamin D from the sun without the heat (silver-coated plexiglass)
Opinion: sun better than UV better than vitamin D
Fewer cognitive problems if more sun or Vitamin D
Which Is Worse - Avoiding Sunlight or Vitamin D Deficiency – April 2019
Have We Gotten Sunscreen Totally Wrong - Jan 2019
People who get little noon-day sun must supplement with Vitamin D – systematic review June 2017
The Greatest Public Health Mistake of the 20th Century (sunscreen block Vitamin D) - 2017
Does Less Sun mean More Disease 5 minute video
340,000 US deaths annually due to insufficient sun (some due to low vitamin D) – July 2020
Health benefit of Sunlight is more than Vitamin D in the blood - many studies
5 Amazing Properties of Sunlight You've Never Heard About
Vitamin D and Sun conference – Germany June 2017

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Study on this page was cited by 37 others as of May 2022

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