The Truth About Sunscreen and Vitamin D

In order to be healthy you need to get enough of all of the vitamins everyday and one vitamin in particular, Vitamin D, is actually made by the body when the sun hits your skin. (I know, it’s the first time I have said the sun does something good for your body.) However, there has been a lot written in the press lately sensationalizing the potential risk of sunscreen causing Vitamin D deficiency because sunscreens today so effectively block UVB rays of the sun, and it is those UVB rays that enable the body to make the Vitamin D.

In reality, you only need a few minutes of unprotected sun exposure to make enough Vitamin D everyday, and despite your best intentions of using sunscreen properly and using it effectively, it is still not going to be perfect and a certain amount of sun is going to get through the sunscreen, get around the sunscreen, and thereby enable your body to make natural Vitamin D anyway.

Having said that, if you are still concerned that you do not have enough Vitamin D either because you’re using sunscreen or probably because you are indoors all day, it is very easy to get a simple Vitamin D blood test from your doctor to find out whether or not you have enough. Alternatively, you can eat foods that are rich in Vitamin D like certain fish, vegetables, and fortified cereals or take Vitamin D pills everyday.

But don’t risk sun damage in the form of wrinkles and skin cancer by not using sunscreen just because you are trying to get more natural Vitamin D. It just doesn’t make sense and you probably have enough Vitamin D anyway.