Genes blight sunlight boost for some

Thursday June 10th, 2010

Some people are resistant to the sunlight vitamin which plays a key role in bone health, researchers revealed last night.

The major international study has concluded that some people of European origin are programmed to have inadequate levels of vitamin D.

The vitamin is produced in the skin through exposure to sunlight but can also be obtained from some food and supplements.

Researchers in Britain, the USA, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands compiled details of nearly 32,000 people.

They say the findings may help identify people at risk of vitamin D deficiency.

According to the research, published on-line by The Lancet, three genetic sites are linked to levels of the vitamin. Those with variant genes at all three of these sites were more than twice as likely to suffer deficiency than those without.

Professor Tim Spector, of King's College, London, UK, and his fellow researchers write: "These findings improve our understanding of vitamin D regulation and could assist identification of a subgroup of the white population who are most at risk of vitamin D insufficiency and who may need extra levels of supplementation."

Dr Thomas Wang, of the Massachusetts General Hospital, USA, said: "It's possible that these results could explain why some people respond well to vitamin D supplements and others don't, but that needs to be studied further since we didn't specifically examine response to supplementation.

"We also need to investigate how genetic background can modify response to sunlight, whether these associations are seen in other populations, and if these gene variants have an impact in the chronic diseases that appear to be associated with vitamin D deficiency."

The Lancet on-line June 9th 2010

Tags: Diet & Food | Europe | Genetics | North America | Orthopaedics | UK News

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