Do black people need more vitamin D? Here’s what you should know

Vitamin D is a vital coadjutor of calcium and phosphorus in the bone-building process, Perkins says, and a vitamin D deficiency can increase a person’s risk of osteoporosis.

It may take years of vitamin D deficiency to see effects on bone health, according to Dr. Alexa Mays Malchuk, a board-certified family physician at One Medical in North Carolina.

“The things I immediately think of are symptoms of fatigue and moodiness,” says Missy Malchuk. “There are many people who report an improvement in their energy and an improvement in their mood once their vitamin D deficiency is corrected.”

Vitamin D is also used in other metabolic processes, and there is “some evidence that treating vitamin D deficiency can improve outcomes for people with diabetes,” she notes. “Vitamin D is also an anti-inflammatory or antioxidant, so it can help protect the brain over time and can help with immune system function.”

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But it may be especially difficult for black and brown people to meet standard vitamin D intake naturally, and there is a scientific explanation.

People with darker skin have more melanin than people with lighter skin, and there are some great health benefits to having more melanin, Perkins says.

“Melanin is great because it protects us from skin cancer, but by protecting us from skin cancer, it blocks the ultraviolet rays that your body needs to make vitamin D,” she says.

“So in this case, it means we have to work a little harder to get enough sunlight that we need for our body to produce vitamin D. So our melanin, it’s the one that helps save us. But we also have to work against (it) a little bit to get On vitamin D.

For black and brown people, this means getting more sunlight without using sunscreen every day, eating foods high in vitamin D, and perhaps talking to your doctor about taking supplements, Perkins says.

“So when it comes to the sun, a fair-skinned person can spend about 20 minutes in direct sunlight without using sunscreen, and this will help him get the amount of vitamin D he needs,” she says. “Whereas for dark-skinned people, we should get at least 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the amount of melanin in your skin, in order to get the amount of sunlight you need to make vitamin D.”

It’s also important to note that location matters when considering how much vitamin D a person is getting, says Mays-Malchuk.

“Regardless of your skin tone, if you live in the United States, you probably don’t get enough sun exposure to produce adequate amounts of vitamin D,” she adds.

The standard recommendation for daily vitamin D intake is about 400 IU for anyone under 1 year old, and about 600 IU for people ages 1 year and older, according to the National Institutes of Health. People over 70 should aim for about 800 IU.

Standard recommendations for vitamin D intake start at a basal level, “assuming you’re not starting out with a deficiency,” says Miss Malchuk. “So the best way is to talk to your family medicine doctor.”

You can find out your current vitamin D levels by taking them to your doctor. “This is one of the levels in your body that can be checked with a blood test. From the result of the blood test, your doctor can tell you exactly how much vitamin D supplementation you need, either to bring your levels back to normal or to maintain the current level that you You have”.

Not every doctor will automatically check your vitamin D levels during a regular blood test, so you should ask during your next physical exam “If you never knew what your vitamin D levels were” and “You’re a brown person.” Perkins says.

When someone expresses that they’re feeling symptoms of depression or have very low energy, doctors will “check your iron, we’ll check your blood counts, we’ll check your vitamin D because you may feel mentally and physically sluggish because you don’t have the nutrients you need,” she adds. To build bones or form red blood cells.

Fortunately, it can be very easy to get more vitamin D.

1. Sunlight

Both doctors agree that exposure to sunlight is the best way to get more vitamin D, although expert recommendations differ on how long you should sit in the sun without using sunscreen.

Perkins suggests at least 20 minutes of sun exposure without sunscreen for everyone, and up to 30 or 40 minutes for black and brown people.

Miss Malchuk errs on the side of caution and recommends a little less time: “I recommend that people spend no more than 15 minutes in the sun unprotected, which means having your arms and possibly legs exposed, not wearing any sunscreen (and) sitting in the sun for 15 minutes.” “

“This would help your body produce some vitamin D naturally. You want to balance that with the risk of skin cancer and all the bad things that can come from sitting in the sun, which is why I tell people not to do it for more than 15 minutes a day.” “

Harvard Health Publications states that the amount of sunlight you need to get enough vitamin D is personal. “Under the right conditions, 10 to 15 minutes of sun exposure on the arms and legs a few times a week can generate almost all the vitamin D we need. Unfortunately, the ‘right conditions’ are elusive: the season, the time of day.” The health center points out that where you live, cloud cover, and even pollution affect the amount of UV rays that reach your skin.

A 2021 systematic review published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine suggests 5 to 30 minutes of sun exposure without sunscreen, most days of the week.

2. Food

There are also foods you can add to your diet that are rich in vitamin D, according to Perkins and Missy Malchuk.

They include:

• Cow’s milk
• Some types of cheese, including cottage cheese
• Fatty fish, including mackerel, salmon, swordfish and sardines
• yolk
• Fortified foods such as some dairy-free milks, orange juices and cereals
• Cod liver oil

3. Nutritional supplements

If you have a vitamin D deficiency, you may need to get extra help from supplements to boost your levels.

Both doctors agree that you should never add any supplement to your diet without first consulting your doctor about it.

For black and brown people, Perkins recommends taking 600 IU of vitamin D daily. “But if you’re feeling like I’m tanner, and I’m definitely not getting[enough]maybe 1,000 IU. If you’re concerned, also go to your doctor to get your levels checked.”

Mieses Malchuk stresses that about 600 to 800 IU per day is a very safe range for vitamin D supplements unless your doctor tells you to take a higher dose.

Keep in mind that “anything over 2,000 IU per day is too much unless you have a prescription,” Perkins says. “If we have too much vitamin D, it can hinder the absorption of other things like iron, vitamin C, sodium, phosphorus (and) calcium. And you can start to create problems with how the small intestine does its job.”

Dr. Jad Sfeir, an endocrinologist at Mayo Clinic, told CNBC Make It in August 2022 that taking more than 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily can increase the risk of toxicity, by significantly increasing the amount of calcium that enters the bloodstream and urine. . Getting too much vitamin D can also cause symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, kidney stones, cognitive changes and kidney failure, according to Dr. Kendall Mosley, medical director of the Johns Hopkins Bone and Osteoporosis Center.

“These high-dose supplements of 2,000, 10,000, and even 50,000 IU are used specifically to treat deficiency,” says Miss Malchuk. “So the worse the deficiency, the higher the daily dose of vitamin D.”

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