Vitamin D

[BenBurch]

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp

Vitamin D is vital for bodily functions. If you are deficient then you need to supplement via food (cod liver oil has lots of vitamin D) or sun exposure, or vitamin supplementation at the recommended daily intake.
Overdosing does not "boost" any effects on the immune system.

BUT, from the recent literature, the correct amount seems to be higher than the longstanding recommendations.

 

[Nursefoxfire]

NFF, are your looking for vit D PRODUCTION rates?

I'm looking for info on how tanning affects absorption rates. In other words, if one was to assume that a fair-skinned redhead only needs 5 minutes of direct sunlight per day to get the same amount of Vitamin D that a dark-skinned African person will get in 30 minutes, how does tanning affect that? If that [normally] pale-skinned person got a tan several shades darker than her normal skin tone, would her absorption rate decrease?

I don't know much about tanning and melatonin. It has something to do with sunlight (UV-B rays?) stimulating the skin's natural melatonin response, I believe. And I think that absorption rates decrease if a person has naturally darker skin pigment, but what one has to do with the other is beyond me.

 

[Dymanic]

Production of melatonin (not to be confused with melanin) decreases with increased exposure to light.

The way I figure it, as we approach the summer solstice the sunlight probably increases in intensity by about the right amount to compensate for the increase in my skin pigmentation, even though I stick with the same goal of twenty minutes. By full summer (once swimming season begins) it will no longer be a matter of getting enough sun, but a matter of avoiding getting too much. Unlike supplement, you can't get too much Vitamin D from sunlight, but righteous sunburn is still a bad thing. It's a real bad thing.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I'm not sure the ant-supplement police would be pleased.

You appear to be incapable of digesting the difference between pro-science based recommendations for dietary supplements and anti-magical thinking supplement recommendations. You seem to think the issue is simply, no supplements, it's all magical thinking. I suggest you try harder to understand what you are reading in this forum.

 

[Perpetual Student]

You appear to be incapable of digesting...

And you appear to be incapable of digesting humor.