After her yearly checkup with her doctor, Mary Wesley was surprised to learn the results of her blood work: She had a vitamin D deficiency. By  Staff writer After her yearly checkup with her doctor, Mary Wesley was surprised to learn the results of her blood work: She had a vitamin D deficiency.

"I was telling them I was tired, and it turns out my vitamin D was very, very low," recalled Wesley, who lives on Charleston's West Side and goes to the FamilyCare Community Health Center. "They said I wasn't getting enough sun, that I wasn't outside enough."

A recent study found a striking difference in the numbers of black adults who have vitamin D deficiency compared to whites - even after controlling for factors such as sun exposure and diet.

The Southern Community Cohort Study found that 45 percent of blacks had a vitamin D deficiency, compared to 11 percent of whites.

The study - Wesley is one of 75,000 people taking part - is designed to investigate cancer among blacks and low-income adults between the ages 40 and 79 in 12 Southern states. Vitamin D might help prevent some cancers, according to recent research.

"African-Americans have some of the highest rates of vitamin D deficiency simply because their skin is darker," said Lisa Signorello, co-principal investigator for the project. "There's a wide disparity, and that disparity held even in a region of high sunlight exposure."

A person's full requirement of vitamin D can be obtained from exposure to the sun - sometimes as little as 10 to 15 minutes a day. However, people with deeply pigmented skin require 10 times the exposure of fair-skinned people to produce the same amount of vitamin D, according to the researchers.

Full Story: http://wvgazette.com/News/200806290294

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