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Is there a scientific classification system for evaluating how light vs. dark a person's skin is? I'd like to know how much my relatively darker skin is prevent
by kyleee 6y ago
Is there a scientific classification system for evaluating how light vs. dark a person's skin is? I'd like to know how much my relatively darker skin is preventing vit D uptake / creation in the body
- philsnow 6y agoThere is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitzpatrick_scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitzpatrick_scale which I learned about from the apple health app, no idea how widespread it is or how useful it is as a model.
- briankelly 6y agoI learned about this from a dermatologist who specializes in skin cancer care. He says it is a very strong indicator for skin damage and cancer risk (sounded stronger than genetic/family history factors), but how it relates to vitamin D deficiency was not really in his domain.
- kyleee 6y agoThank you
- jmnicolas 6y agoI don't think skin color is very relevant if you live a modern sedentary life that implies most of your time is spent inside: you're probably deficient whatever your skin color is. IMHO it would be best to test your vitamin D level anyway and act accordingly.
- MayeulC 6y agoI think skin color is most likely correlated, without being the cause. Populations with lighter skin colors tend to live at higher lattitudes, where there is less sun. Inherited genes probably compensate for this, while also transmitting the paler/darker skin allele.
- mr_toad 6y ago> I think skin color is most likely correlated, without being the cause. Melanin inhibits the synthesis of vitamin D. It also happens to darken skin.