Vitamin D

If you are lacking in vitamin D for a long time then your bones may soften. In serious cases this leads to rickets in children and a condition called osteomalacia in adults.

By enjoying the sun sensibly, everyone can make enough vitamin D while not increasing their risk of skin cancer.

The amount of time you need in the sun to make enough vitamin D changes from person to person. It also depends on things like skin type, time of day, time of year, and where you are in the world.

But the amount of sun needed to make enough vitamin D is always less than the higher amounts that cause tanning or sunburn. These high amounts can increase the risk of skin cancer.

By taking steps to avoid burning, people can achieve a balance between reducing the risk of skin cancer and enjoying the beneficial effects of the sun.

If you are fair-skinned, have lots of moles and freckles or have a family history of skin cancer, it is important to use sun protection in summer to reduce your risk of skin cancer. Sensible sun protection shouldn’t prevent you producing enough vitamin D.

You don’t need to spend hours in the sun to feel the benefits of sunlight. In fact, extra time in the sun doesn't mean you keep on producing more vitamin D. When your body has healthy levels of the vitamin any extra is just broken down.

This means that spending a long time in the sun will not give you any extra vitamin D. But it will increase your risk of skin cancer.

From October to March our skin cannot make vitamin D because of low levels of UVB in winter sunlight. But for most people if normal levels are built up in the summer, our bodies store enough of the vitamin to last us through winter.

People who are most likely to be lacking in vitamin D include:

• people with naturally brown or black skin
• people who wear clothing that fully conceals them
• older people who don’t go outside much
• pregnant women
• breast-feeding babies with vitamin D-deficient mothers

There are ways to raise your vitamin D levels other than increasing your sun exposure. Talk to your GP about vitamin D supplements if you are worried about your vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D is also present in foods such as eggs, fatty fish, fish liver oils and some fortified cereals.

More and more studies are showing that getting enough vitamin D can help to reduce the risk of bowel cancer. Some studies have suggested that having enough vitamin D protects against other cancers too but the evidence is not consistent enough for us to say for sure.

You can read more about the links between vitamin D and other cancers on our blog.

By enjoying the sun safely and avoiding sunburn, people can reduce their risk of skin cancer and enjoy the beneficial effects of the sun. It’s possible to get the best of both worlds.

We base our SunSmart messages on scientific evidence and review them regularly. Vitamin D is an important research topic and we will continue to update this section when new evidence about vitamin D and cancer becomes available.

If you are interested in learning more about scientific studies on vitamin D then take a look at our How do we know? section.