Health & Wellbeing

Vitamin D – a new sunburn treatment?

Vitamin D – a new sunburn treatment?
A very high dosage is required, but the research is said to be promising
A very high dosage is required, but the research is said to be promising
View 1 Image
A very high dosage is required, but the research is said to be promising
1/1
A very high dosage is required, but the research is said to be promising

Although a lot of us may already slather on the vitamin E when we get sunburned, it looks like vitamin D might also help our skin to recover. In a recent study conducted by Case Western University, it was found that orally-administered vitamin D can actually promote healing … but you need to take a lot of it.

The double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial started by giving 20 test subjects a small UV-lamp-delivered sunburn on their inner arm. Within one hour, they were then given either a placebo pill, or 50,000, 100,000, or 200,000 IU of vitamin D. Their skin was subsequently analyzed 24, 48, 72 hours and one week after the experiment.

While the placebo and the lower doses had little to no effect, the higher doses significantly reduced inflammation and redness, plus the test subjects experienced a jump in gene activity related to skin barrier repair. The scientists believe this was because vitamin D increases levels of an enzyme known as arginase-1, which both boosts tissue repair and activates anti-inflammatory proteins.

That said, the effective doses in the experiment were far above the 400-IU daily recommended allowance of vitamin D.

"I would not recommend at this moment that people start taking vitamin D after sunburn based on this study alone," says lead scientist Dr. Kurt Lu. "But, the results are promising and worthy of further study."

A paper on the research was recently published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

Source: Case Western University

3 comments
3 comments
Izzey
I was in South Africa in 1979. This was a known preventative treatment back then, so I bought some and it worked! I am fair skinned and was on the ocean and in full sun (fishing in a dingy with locals off Mauritius) for 9hrs without getting burnt in the slightest. Was the science lost?
The 1 TaiN
I usually find a Liberal Dosing of White Vinegar does the Trick quite nicely...
Eric Blenheim
I take 5,000 i.u. of Vitamin D3 a day usually, and have noticed that I never get sunburned now even if I stay in the hottest sun for hours, and I even seem to get a deeper bronzed look and my skin does not peel, though you must make sure you take plenty of Vitamin K2, from cheeses and so on when using such an amount of D3 to ensure that calcium is not placed in tissues other than bones and teeth.
Supplements of K2 individually are hellishly expensive, though buying a good comprehensive food-sourced multi vitamin and mineral supplement including 100 mcg K2 is a much better deal, and really not much more expensive each day than buying K2 alone.