Recommended summer sunlight exposure amounts fail to produce sufficient vitamin D status in UK adults of South Asian origin.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, published as a clinical trial.

The researchers determined the relative effect of a simulation of UK recommendations of summer sunlight exposure on the vitamin D status of individuals of South Asian ethnicity compared with that of whites.

Why It Was Studied

The national guidance provided on amounts of sunlight exposure in the United Kingdom is for the light-skinned population, and in the absence of dedicated information, darker-skinned people may attempt to follow this guidance.

Who Took Part

The study group was 15 adults.

PubMed indexes the participants as young adults, adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

Dietary vitamin D intake was estimated.

Outcomes were compared with those of 109 whites (aged 20-60 y) treated with the identical UV-radiation exposure protocol.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Asia, Cohort Studies, Parathyroid Hormone, Seasons, Sunlight, United Kingdom and Vitamin D.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is a clinical trial of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in 15 adults.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Its findings take up roughly 6 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2011 (The American journal of clinical nutrition), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc compound page, all human trials.