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Expert recommends strategies for avoiding vitamin D deficiency

Category: Vitamin D Deficiency-Diagnosis and Treatment

In order to avoid receiving an unhealthy vitamin D test, experts urge individuals to consider taking nutritional supplements rather than spending too much time in the sun. While sun exposure may stimulate the production of the vital nutrient, it can also increase one's risk of skin cancer.

Vitamin D deficiency has been increasing in recent years. Given the fact that science is continuing to uncover benefits to having higher levels of the nutrient, many people are now thinking of ways to get more of it into their system.

However, Susan Chon, a professor at the MD Anderson School of Dermatology at the University of Texas, told Chiropractic Economics that getting the vitamin from natural food sources or nutritional supplements may be the safest way to improve their levels.

"Some people may absorb enough vitamin D from their routine outdoor exposure," she told the news source "However, the benefits of [ultraviolet] exposure may be limited because they can lead to increased risks of developing skin cancer."

A recent study published in the Archives of Adolescent and Pediatric Medicine estimated that as much as 24 percent of youths may be vitamin D deficient.