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And they often skip over skin colour as a significant factor. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5372923/#:~:text=Circulating%20vitamin%20D%20concent
by interestica 6y ago
And they often skip over skin colour as a significant factor.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5372923/#:~:text=Circulating%20vitamin%20D%20concentrations%20differ,color%20%5B10%2C12%5D https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5372923/#:~:tex....
- jessaustin 6y agoFrom the link given above: These seem like benefits everyone should be able to take advantage of. But not all people process sunlight the same way. And the current U.S. sun-exposure guidelines were written for the whitest people on earth. Every year, Richard Weller spends time working in a skin hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Not only is Addis Ababa near the equator, it also sits above 7,500 feet, so it receives massive UV radiation. Despite that, says Weller, “I have not seen a skin cancer. And yet Africans in Britain and America are told to avoid the sun.” ... People of color rarely get melanoma. The rate is 26 per 100,000 in Caucasians, 5 per 100,000 in Hispanics, and 1 per 100,000 in African Americans. ... How did we get through the Neolithic Era without sunscreen? Actually, perfectly well. What’s counterintuitive is that dermatologists run around saying, ‘Don’t go outside, you might die.’ At the same time, African Americans suffer high rates of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, internal cancers, and other diseases that seem to improve in the presence of sunlight, of which they may well not be getting enough. Because of their genetically higher levels of melanin, they require more sun exposure to produce compounds like vitamin D, and they are less able to store that vitamin for darker days. They have much to gain from the sun and little to fear.