Deficiency of vitamin D is usually caused by dietary deficiency and/or lack of exposure to sunlight in dark skinned individuals living at northern latitudes. Simple vitamin D deficiency is commonly treated by prescribing a vitamin D containing calcium supplement. This report presents a patient who rejected this approach and instead, after researching alternative treatment options independently,...

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to an increased risk of a wide range of adverse health outcomes. The active form of vitamin D has an important role in calcium metabolism and in bone mineralisation, but the evidence for other health outcomes is mixed, with the strongest effects seen in the weakest epidemiological study designs. There are plausible pathways whereby vitamin D deficiency can i...

Exposure to sunlight, specifically ultraviolet B (UVB), is essential for cutaneous vitamin D synthesis. Despite significant daily sunlight availability in Africa and the Middle East, persons living in these regions are frequently vitamin D insufficient or deficient. Vitamin D insufficiency (25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) between 15 and 20 ng/mL (37.5-50 nmol/L)) has been described in various pop...

Suicide attempts are known to peak in the spring, overlapping with the time of year when 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels are at their nadir in the northern hemisphere because of negligible skin production of vitamin D owing to low levels of ultraviolet B radiation. Low levels of 25(OH)D, the vitamin D metabolite used to diagnose vitamin D deficiency, have been associated with certain pro-s...

Vitamin D deficiency is a global concern. Much research has concentrated on the endogenous synthesis of vitamin D in human skin following exposure to ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B, 280-315 nm). In many regions of the world there is insufficient UV-B radiation during winter months for adequate vitamin D production, and even when there is sufficient UV-B radiation, lifestyles and concerns about t...

Background: Vitamin D is a key nutrient in bone health and the vitamin D status of individuals with regular exposure to solar or artifi cial ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation is generally superior to those with limited exposure. Objective: By means of a cross-sectional, observational design, explore the association of serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations and biochemical markers of bo...

Hardly a week goes by when the attention of the scientific press and the general public is not focused on a new report about the health effects of sunshine. Most studies of the effects of strong or prolonged ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure on the skin have emphasized the importance of sun avoidance and protection against sun exposure to reduce skin cancer risk. In recent years, though, the...

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble steroid hormone that is crucial for human health and has recently generated controversy regarding its role in human health and disease. In this Special Article, we discuss our dermatologic perspective on vitamin D in a question-and-answer format. We discuss methods of obtaining vitamin D, including cutaneous photobiosynthesis, diet, and supplements and include the rec...

A Swedish cohort analysis in this issue (1) demonstrates a significant reduction in all cause mortality and in cardiovascular mortality associated with several measures of sun exposure. In addition, ultraviolet exposure from tanning beds is associated with a significant increase in all cause mortality and cancer mortality. A potential explanation for the protective association is that UV exposu...

background: there is a known inverse association between solar radiation and the prevalence of multiple sclerosis (ms). some studies have investigated the link between vitamin d and ms. the aim of this study was to investigate the possible association between serum 25(oh) vitamin d3 concentration and the severity of disease in iranian patients with ms. methods: patients with relapsing-remitting...