Relationship between vitamin D status and skin phototype in general adult population

A link between bone mineral density and skin color has been reported recent ly, and pigmentation has been shown to affect cutaneous vitamin D productio n. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between phototype , global self-assessed sun exposure, geographical location and vitamin D se rum levels in 1191 French adults, When the factors were analyzed separately , individuals with lower phototypes as well as those with lower sun exposur e showed significantly lower levels of vitamin D than those with darker pho totypes or those with higher sun exposure, However, when factors were analy zed as a whole, the vitamin D status was no longer linked with the phototyp e, but with sun exposure and geographical location. Since phototypes and gl obal self-assessments of sun exposure were positively linked, our data sugg est that lower vitamin D levels in fair-skinned individuals are due to thei r sun exposure behavior.