Oncology & Cancer

How much sun can (and should) I get?

As we slide of out summer, you might be wondering how careful you need to be about sun exposure. Excessive exposure causes skin cancer, but sun exposure also has benefits. How do you balance the two?

Health

Vitamin supplements versus a balanced diet? No contest

Global consumers spent more than $177 billion dollars on dietary supplements in 2023, with at least a quarter of that—roughly $45 billion or more—purchased by Americans, according to a study by Grand View Research, a ...

Health

Q&A: Health experts cover winter's myriad health challenges

We know you're thinking about it: Turning the corner from winter into spring. Although warmer days are on the horizon, the effects of weeks of gray, winter days are real. For some, winter weather comes with a particular dose ...

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Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble prohormones, the two major forms of which are vitamin D2 (or ergocalciferol) and vitamin D3 (or cholecalciferol). The term vitamin D also refers to metabolites and other analogues of these substances. Vitamin D3 is produced in skin exposed to sunlight, specifically ultraviolet B radiation.

Vitamin D plays an important role in the maintenance of organ systems.

Vitamin D deficiency can result from inadequate intake coupled with inadequate sunlight exposure; disorders that limit its absorption; conditions that impair conversion of vitamin D into active metabolites, such as liver or kidney disorders; or, rarely, by a number of hereditary disorders. Deficiency results in impaired bone mineralization and leads to bone softening diseases rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults, and possibly contributes to osteoporosis. However, sunlight exposure, to avoid deficiency, carries other risks, including skin cancer; this risk is avoided with dietary absorption, either through diet or as a dietary supplement.

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