Fair skin apparently brings along a higher risk of vitamin D deficiency --- with a new survey highlighting that people who have a pale complexion may not be able to spend a long enough time in the sun to benefit sufficiently from sunlight which is a good source of vitamin D!

Going by the results of the survey, funded by Cancer Research UK, a ‘lower than optimal’ level of vitamin D was observed in 730 of the 1,200 survey participants. And, the majority of these 730 people were those skin was pale as well as freckled.

Despite the fact that exposure to sun helps the body get enough vitamin D to make the bones strong, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) had issued new guidelines earlier this year, noting that long periods of sun-exposure can apparently lead to an increased risk of skin cancer.

While the NICE guidelines advised fair-skinned people to cover up and avoid excessive exposure to the sun – thereby making them unable to absorb sufficient vitamin D amounts -, research has also revealed that no matter how much some fair-skinned people may be exposed to the sun, their body still cannot make and process vitamin D.

With the research highlighting the fact that it is, by nature, difficult for fair-skinned people to manufacture sufficient Vitamin D, Prof Julia Newton-Bishop - from the University of Leeds – said that fair-skinned people, thus, “need to take vitamin D supplements”!