How much Vitamin D is enough?

There is a lot of mixed information about vitamin D. Not so much about the vitamin itself, which everyone agrees is important for skin health. The controversy centers around how best to get the Vitamin D your skin needs to maintain optimal health. This is becoming more of an issue these days as melanoma and skin cancers seem to be more and more common. While the sun can be bad for you (as skin cancers demonstrate), it is also necessary to get enough Vitamin D.

Or is it?

In less modern times, exposure to sunlight was the best (and sometimes only) way to get Vitamin D. In our modern era, though, Vitamin D is added to many foods, and all dairy products. Even if you wear sunscreen religiously (and you do, right?), no one sunscreen can block all the sun's rays…so you're getting a dose of vitamin D each time you're in the sun, even if you're wearing a great sunscreen.

Current thinking says that just driving in your car, walking to/from buildings, and sitting near the window is enough exposure to give you all the Vitamin D you need. So your best bet is to wear sunscreen, limit the amount of time you spend in the sun, and drink your milk. Your body will take care of the rest.