Vitamin D Status and Its Consequences for Health in South Africa
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2016, 13(10), 1019; doi:10.3390/ijerph13101019 (registering DOI)
Mary Norval 1, Anna K. Coussens 2, Robert J. Wilkinson 2,3,4, Liza Bornman 5, Robyn M. Lucas 6 and Caradee Y. Wright 7,*
1 Biomedical Science, University of Edinburgh Medical School, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK
2 Clinical Infectious Disease Research Initiative, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7701, South Africa
3 Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
4 Mill Hill Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 2BE, UK
5 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Johannesburg, Gauteng 2006, South Africa
6 National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
7 South African Medical Research Council, Environment and Health Research Unit and University of Pretoria, Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
There is a huge amount information available about vitamin D, genes, and cofactors
Many countries, such as South Africa in this case, do not seem to want to consider foreign studies,
This publication considered just 19 studies published in South Africa
VitaminDWiki has over 7,000 articles as of 2016, including such items as:
- Overview Dark Skin and Vitamin D
- Skin - Dark category listing has
467 items along with related searches - Dark skin pregnancies and Vitamin D - many studies
- Africa category listing has
28 items along with related searches - Vitamin D deficiency diseases in dark skinned people living far from equator – Meta-analysis Oct 2013
- Dark Skinned adults need more than 45 minutes of UK summer sun daily – June 2013
- Forearm fracture 3.5X more often in black children with low levels of vitamin D – Sept 2012
- Dark-skined mothers: preeclampsia 12X more likely if gestational hypertension – May 2014
- Sleep disorder and nonspecific pain implies low vitamin D, especially if dark skin – March 2013
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In this review, reports were retrieved in which vitamin D status, as assessed by serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels, was measured in South African population groups with varied skin colours and ethnicities. Healthy children and adults were generally vitamin D-sufficient [25(OH)D level >50 nmol/L] but the majority of those aged above 65 years were deficient. A major role for exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in determining 25(OH)D levels was apparent, with the dietary contribution being minor. Limited data exist regarding the impact of recent changes in lifestyles on vitamin D status, such as urbanisation. With regard to disease susceptibility, 11 of 22 relevant publications indicated association between low 25(OH)D levels and disease, with deficiency most notably found in individuals with tuberculosis and HIV-1. Information on the relationship between vitamin D receptor variants and ethnicity, disease or treatment response in the South African population groups demonstrated complex interactions between genetics, epigenetics and the environment. Whether vitamin D plays an important role in protection against the range of diseases that currently constitute a large burden on the health services in South Africa requires further investigation. Only then can accurate advice be given about personal sun exposure or dietary vitamin D supplementation.
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