Sunlight, vitamin D and asthma in children

A current study shows African-American children with asthma are significantly more likely to have low levels of vitamin D than healthy African-American children.[1] Vitamin D deficiency in children with asthma was twenty times more likely than in healthy children.

This research is simply one of the latest proofs that the profound increase in asthma in the last few decades has been caused to a great extent by our societal exodus from sunlight exposure, along with the increased use of sunscreen, which can inhibit up to 99% of vitamin D production by the skin.[2]

Drs Litonjua and Weiss, in a medical hypothesis presented in 2007, made a strong case for vitamin D deficiency as a major player in the increase in asthma incidence among both children and adults.[3] They stated the following:

1. “… as populations grow more prosperous, more time is spent indoors, and there is less exposure to sunlight, leading to decreased cutaneous vitamin D production.”
2. “Vitamin D has been linked to immune system and lung development in utero, and our epidemiologic studies show that higher vitamin D intake by pregnant mothers reduces asthma risk by as much as 40% in children 3 to 5 years old.”
3. "Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with obesity, African American race (particularly in urban, inner-city settings), and recent immigrants to westernized countries, thus reflecting the epidemiologic patterns observed in the asthma epidemic."

These researchers might have also said that the Powers of Darkness—those who have a vested interest in convincing the populace to avoid all sunlight exposure and to cover up with sunscreens—are to a great extent responsible for the asthma pandemic that is gripping the nation. Reasonable, non burning sunlight exposure sunlight is normal and natural for children and adults, and those who would deprive us of that critically important contributor to human health should have the guilt of their actions weighing heavily on their consciences.

[1] Freishtat RJ, Iqbal SF, Pillai DK, Klein CJ, Ryan LM, Benton AS, Teach SJ. High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among inner-city African American youth with asthma in Washington, DC. J Pediatr 2010;156:948-52.
[2] Matsuoka, L. et al. sunscreens suppress cutaneous vitamin D3 synthesis. Journal Clini Endocrinol Metab 1987; 64:1165-68.
[3] Litonjua AA, Weiss ST. Is vitamin D deficiency to blame for the asthma epidemic? J Allergy Clin Immunol 2007;120:1031–1035.