Posts Tagged ‘tanning’
Benefits and requirements of vitaminD for optimal health
Vitamin D sufficiency is required for optimal health. The conditions with strong evidence for a protective effect of vitamin D include several bone diseases, muscle weakness, more than a dozen types of internal cancers, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes mellitus. There is also weaker evidence for several other diseases and conditions. There are good reasons that vitamin D sufficiency be maintained during all stages of life, from fetal development to old age. Adequate calcium intake is also recommended. The current vitamin D requirements in the United States are based on protection against bone diseases. These guidelines are being revised upward in light of new findings, especially for soft-tissue health. The consensus of scientific understanding appears to be that vitamin D deficiency is reached for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels less than 20 ng/mL (50 nmol/L), insufficiency in the range from 20-32 ng/mL, and sufficiency in the range from 33-80 ng/mL, with normal in sunny countries 54-90 ng/mL, and excess greater than 100 ng/mL. Solar ultraviolet-B (UVB) irradiation is the primary source of vitamin D for most people. In general, the health benefits accruing from moderate UV irradiation, without erythema or excess tanning, greatly outweigh the health risks, with skin pigmentation (melanin) providing much of the protection. In the absence of adequate solar UVB irradiation due to season, latitude, or lifestyle, vitamin D can be obtained from fortified food, oily fish, vitamin D supplements, and artificial sources of UVB radiation.
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Our pale writer braves the new, high-tech world of fake tans
By Jessica Neuman Beck
J. Lo’s doing it. Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt are doing it.
Fake tans are becoming the faux fur of the red carpet set, only without those annoying PETA demonstrators harassing those who still get their color the old-fashioned way. Can you imagine? Pale-skinned models wearing only a sign that says, “I’d rather go naked than expose my skin to ultraviolet rays!” Hmm … maybe that isn’t such a terrible idea. But sunless tans offend no one, and have the added bonus of instant gratification for those of us who don’t want to spend hours at the beach. Read the rest of this entry »