Sunshine and Vitamin D question

[exurb]

do you know what the deal is with sunshine and Vitamin D - I regularly hear you need 15 minutes a day to get enough Vitamin D.

What I'm wondering, is does that have to be 15 consecutive minutes for it to work, or if you go out there 15 times for a minute at a time does that work?

Also, does anyone know can you make Vitamin D from those artificial lights that are available for people to use with SAD (seasonal affective disorder in this case).

[sport]

I think that the 15 mins only applies if you have a lot of your body exposed, otherwise you would have to stay out a little longer.
We are being told that the lamps and the complete spectrum bulbs work as well but there is no substitute for the real thing.

[Doe]

exurb,

Our skin uses ultraviolet rays from the sun to produce vitamin D. It is actually a hormone and is thus misclassified as a vitamin. It aids in the absorption of calcium, helps maintain normal levels of phosphorus and calcium in the blood, and promotes bone mineralization. Wearing sunscreen to block the UV from reaching our skin actually contributes to cancer. We need ultraviolet rays.

I got my info from www.mercola.com (http://www.mercola.com/) there were several really interesting articles there about the sun. I just typed sun or sunlight into the search box there.

Teri S

[Doe]

Just reread your post. The 15 min is just an average. We only get this from the real sun and the more skin the sun is toughing the better. It is alright to get more in the summer and less in the winter. The body doesn't become depleted of nutrients daily or anything like that.

However, it shouldn't be a problem to get sunlight. If it is freezing cold outside even small babies can be put near a window so that the light is on their skin, while in the warm comfort of home. Dr D and Rozi did this with Faye.

If one lives in an area of the world where there is very little sunshine during parts of the year, getting enough when possible could even it out.

The second highest cause of skin cancer right now is sunlamps. The highest cause is sunscreen. All this info is in the link above.

Teri S

[TA]

Thanks for posting the link, Doe, very interesting site. 15 minutes of sun also helps my husband cope with the seasonal disorder thing, he gets sort of depressed in winter...a daily walk helps quite a bit.

[exurb]

but does it count if it's a minute or so at a time, or do we need the prolonged 15 minutes in a row on our skin for the process of making the vitamin D.

BTW, I heard the 15 minutes minimum is for face and hands exposed.

I understand it's average too, because Vitamin D is also fat soluble (A, D, E and K), which means we can store it, as opposed to something like vitamin C which we piss out daily if we have extra.