Sunlight and vitamin D protect against Parkinson's disease
- “People who spend two hours a day outside are two times less likely to develop Parkinson's disease than people who only spend an hour or less outside,”
Reminder: The benefit of sun comes only from 10 AM to 3 PM during the summer
When your shadow is as long as you are you get 1/2 of much vitamin D
Reminder: Far more vitamin D is generated when more skin is exposed and lying down
Suspect: Only need 30 minutes a day to reduce PD by 2X if lay down with few clothes on
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The above was a report of the following study
Vitamin D and Sunlight Exposure in Newly-Diagnosed Parkinson’s Disease
Nutrients 2016, 8(3), 142; doi:10.3390/nu8030142
Juan Wang 1, Deyu Yang 1, Yu Yu 2,* , Gaohai Shao 2 and Qunbo Wang 2
1 Department of Neurology, Yongchuan Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 404100, China
2 Department of Orthopedics, Yongchuan Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 404100, China
Received: 24 November 2015 / Revised: 15 February 2016 / Accepted: 24 February 2016 / Published: 4 March 2016
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vitamin D and Psychological Health—The Sunshine
Circulating vitamin D has previously been found to be lower in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), while the effects of sunlight exposure have not yet been fully investigated. Therefore, we evaluated the associations between serum vitamin D, vitamin D intake, sunlight exposure, and newly-diagnosed PD patients in a Chinese population. This case-control study measured serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and sunlight exposure in 201 patients with newly-diagnosed PD and 199 controls without neurodegenerative diseases. Data on vitamin D intake and sunlight exposure were obtained using a self-report questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regressions were employed to evaluate the associations between serum 25(OH)D levels, sunlight exposure, and PD. Adjustments were made for sex, age, smoking, alcohol use, education, BMI, and vitamin D intake. There were significantly lower levels of
- serum 25(OH)D (20.6 ± 6.5 ng/mL),
- daily vitamin D intake (8.3 ± 3.7 g/day), and
- sunlight exposure (9.7 ± 4.1 h/week)
in patients with PD compared to healthy controls (p < 0.05).
Crude odds ratios (ORs) for PD in the quartiles of serum 25(OH)D were
- 1 (reference),
- 0.710 (0.401, 1.257),
- 0.631 (0.348, 1.209), and
- 0.483 (0.267, 0.874), respectively.
Crude ORs for PD in quartiles of sunlight exposure were
- 1 (reference),
- 0.809 (0.454, 1.443),
- 0.623 (0.345, 1.124) and
- 0.533 (0.294, 0.966), respectively.
A significant positive correlation between serum 25(OH)D and sunlight exposure was found, but serum 25(OH)D was not correlated with daily vitamin D intake. This study indicates that lower levels of serum 25(OH)D and sunlight exposure are significantly associated with an increased risk for PD.