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Sunscreen and SAP Can Cause Vitamin D Deficiency!

5K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  Itss A New Day 
#1 ·
I wanted to share a recent experience in hopes that others can prevent what happened to me.

As I've recently ventured on the "skin lightening journey", I've been more mindful of sun exposure and have been practicing SAP, wearing sunscreen for the first time ever and covering up my skin even during our most brutal heatwave this summer. After some time I began noticing sore joints in my legs, meaning that my muscles were sore when I walked and it was painful/uncomfortable to walk at times. This led me to visit my doctor, where I underwent some bloodwork. Lo and behold, I had a Vitamin D deficiency; my levels were very low. I've never had a Vitamin D deficiency, maybe because I never wore sunscreen and spent the average amount of time in the sun as most other people.

After researching on Vitamin D deficiency, I discovered that sunscreen can actually cause a Vitamin D deficiency. Who knew? I also discovered that darker skin people are more prone to Vitamin D deficiency... My doctor just recommended 10,000 iu of Vitamin D to get me back on track. But hopefully everyone practicing SAP will take heed to any early symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency, such as hair loss, muscle weakness, and bone pain. I'm not sure if I should continue with suncreen at this point or just get some more sun in general, but I'll definitely be taking vitamins to supplement my Vitamin D. Curious to hear if this has ever happened to anyone and if so, how are you practicing sun protection today?
 
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#3 ·
@gymrat. I too live in California, but I wouldn't be so quick to call it complete garbage, and I wouldn't discount the fact that I get annual physicals and I've never had a vitamin D deficiency until I started using sunscreen. My observation is strictly empirical, but I would like to use common sense on this one.

Of course there's always a study to prove whatever point anyone's trying to prove, so here is a direct quote from American Osteopathic Association (AOA) "SPF 15 or greater decreases vitamin D3 production by 99 percent,” and additionally there's been a study done by Dr. Kim Pfotenhauer and a team of other researchers who came to the same conclusion. I'm simply here to pass on knowledge from my own experience as I believe that with any data, there may be room for cases of anomalies... I appreciate your reply.
 
#4 ·
@gymrat. I too live in California, but I wouldn't be so quick to call it complete garbage, and I wouldn't discount the fact that I get annual physicals and I've never had a vitamin D deficiency until I started using sunscreen. My observation is strictly empirical, but I would like to use common sense on this one.

Of course there's always a study to prove whatever point anyone's trying to prove, so here is a direct quote from American Osteopathic Association (AOA) "SPF 15 or greater decreases vitamin D3 production by 99 percent,” and additionally there's been a study done by Dr. Kim Pfotenhauer and a team of other researchers who came to the same conclusion. I'm simply here to pass on knowledge from my own experience as I believe that with any data, there may be room for cases of anomalies... I appreciate your reply.
I feel strongly that its complete garbage, but if you feel its from wearing sunscreen then stop wearing it :) and truthfully if I had a Dr telling me wearing sunscreen caused me to be Vit D deficient I would be looking for a new Dr. 99% of Dr in California would beg you to wear sunscreen if they were good Drs.
 
#5 ·
@gymrat oh no my doctor didn't advise me not to wear sunscreen I came to that conclusion based on my recent Sun avoid avoidance measures. In any event I'll probably minimize the sunscreen just to get a little bit more sun and as I stated previously use the 10,000 iu vitamin D that was recommended by my doctor and we'll see how that goes. Thanks again for your Insight
 
#6 · (Edited)
Yup, blacks and other darker skin toned people need more vitamin d to avoid defeciency in the same vein as how whites and other lighter skin toned people need more SAP to avoid skin cancer.

I live NY where the winters are always dark, cold, hard and brutal and the falls are dreary and b*tch slap us with hurricanes every so often, so the schools hammered the importance of vitamin d into us every year we had health haha :)

OTC multi vitamins, most dairy products, almond milks, eggs, and even some seafood can provide much of your needed minimum daily amount if you're vigilant. I definitely wouldn't cut back sunblock use since there are plenty of edible sources of adequate vitamin d. To get large doses of vitamin d try taking vitamin d supplements with/after meals

whichever supplement brand you choose to go for make sure it has Vitamin D3.
its interesting 10k was recommended since the recommended upper level for adults is 4-5k before side effects occur. So I infer your doctor meant this as temporary? Just trying to figure it out btw, definitely listen to your doctor. Some supplements claim to have high amounts of vitamin d but the claims fall through when tested so make sure it has a good rating
 
#7 ·
Yup, blacks and other darker skin toned people need more vitamin d to avoid defeciency in the same vein as how whites and other lighter skin toned people need more SAP to avoid skin cancer.

I live NY where the winters are always dark, cold, hard and brutal and the falls are dreary and b*tch slap us with hurricanes every so often, so the schools hammered the importance of vitamin d into us every year we had health haha :)


OTC multi vitamins, most dairy products, almond milks, eggs, and even some seafood can provide much of your needed minimum daily amount if you're vigilant. I definitely wouldn't cut back sunblock use since there are plenty of edible sources of adequate vitamin d. To get large doses of vitamin d try taking vitamin d supplement with/after meals

whichever supplement brand you choose to go for make sure it has Vitamin D3.
its interesting 10k was recommended since the recommended upper level for adults is 4-5k before side effects occur. So I infer your doctor meant this as temporary? Just trying to figure it out btw, definitely listen to your doctor. Some supplements claim to have high amounts of vitamin d but the claims fall through when tested so make sure it has a good rating
Hi Bambolina, thanks so much for your recommendation, so after you brought up the point of making sure it has Vitmain D3, I just checked and yes mine has Vitamin D3 (I'm taking "Nature's Bounty D3 10,000 IU Short Term Therapy for Vitamin D Deficiency"), and I believe he may have me on a high dosage to correct the deficiency as quickly as possible, as opposed to a lower dosage maintenance dose? When he broke the news to me over the phone he sounded really concerned, so I imagine my levels were super low.

I just read on National Institue of Health-Office of Dietary Supplements that the high dosage is about 4-5k iu for adults like you suggested, but mayoclinic.org says people have been recommended to take as much as 200,000 iu daily (is this even possible???) for varying conditions (http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/vitamin-d/dosing/hrb-20060400). I'm going to stop wearing my sunscreen indoors as my way of cutting back to get natural sunlight at least, and continue wearing it outdoors and I'll take 10,000 ius of Vit. D. short term and monitor any side effects that are indicative of Vit. D. toxicity.
 
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