‘No guarantee you’ll get enough Vitamin D’: The benefits and drawbacks of sun exposure

TAMPA, Fla. - Sunbathing can be part of Florida life. But is it really giving you a good dose of vitamin D?

"Even if you're in the sun all day, every day like Hawaiian surfers, there's no guarantee you'll get enough vitamin D because as you get a tan, it actually shuts down the amount of vitamin D your body produces," explained Dr. Vernon Sondak, the Chair of the Department of Cutaneous Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.

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The secret to getting that boost is in the timing.

Sunlight does not always provide a good dose of vitamin D.

"Sunlight, even a few minutes of sunlight in the morning or late in the afternoon before the sun goes down, is enough to give about as much vitamin D as your body will create" said Dr. Sondak.

Of course protecting yourself from too much sun to prevent skin cancer is important. Wearing sunscreens and protective clothing that can help.

But what about what we eat?

"There are things that have been investigated. We've looked at carrots and carotenoids. They get into your skin, you eat enough carrots, you actually change the color of your skin. And it didn't really affect the incidence of skin cancer. That was a little bit of a disappointment. So I think taking a multivitamin and taking vitamin D is useful, especially if you're careful about your sun exposure," said Dr. Sondak.

Sunbathing is a part of life in the Sunshine State.

And one day protecting yourself in the sun may go beyond what you put on your skin.

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"I think that over the next few years, we're going to see promise and progress in that area that we might be able to take a pill in the morning that will protect us more than our natural skin color does during the course of a day, or possibly even an after sun pill that gets needed antioxidants to the areas where there's been UV exposure," shared Dr. Sondak.

Moffitt Cancer Center's Mole Patrol and Head & Neck screening team will return to Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach on Saturday, July 29 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for free cancer screenings. No appointment is necessary.