Does being in the sun with sunscreen really block vitamin D?

Sunscreen blocks the synthesis of vitamin D but it is crucial as we have other times when our skin can get the sun

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Being in the sun is good, but you have to expose yourself with criteria using a sunscreen suitable for your phototype. But it is true that staying in the sun with sunscreen block the production of vitamin D? Let's be clear.

Summer is the ideal time to fill up on vitamin D. As we had already explained to you in a previous article, there is a minimum daily exposure time to guarantee us a supply of this substance even for the long winter months. (Read also: Vitamin D: how many minutes a day does it take to stay in the sun to stock up on it?)

However, many people believe that, by frequently using sunscreen, they could somehow become deficient in vitamin D since these protections inhibit the production of this substance which, we remind you, is synthesized by the skin in contact with the sun's rays. But what happens when you spread a cream? Is there really a risk with regard to vitamin D?

Answering this question is Anna Carbone, specialist in dermatology and venereology at the IFO S. Gallicano Rome. The doctor explains that even using very high protections (50+) we shouldn't worry about this aspect:

There is no risk that a sunscreen could induce a deficiency of vitamin D. The reasons are due to the fact that the sunscreen to respect 'to the letter' the protection factor required and specified on the product should be applied several times during the day and in abundant quantities. That is, equal to 2 milligrams per square centimeter of skin for each single application, and be distributed in these quantities evenly over the entire body surface. It is very rare that even the most attentive to sun prevention, strictly following the strictest indications, can reach such high doses of cream. Therefore the risk of a vitamin D deficiency caused by sunscreen is almost non-existent.

In practice it is true that sunscreen blocks the synthesis of vitamin D but (even using it often) our skin, during the day, certainly has enough time to sunbathe in order to synthesize this precious substance.

So let's not forget to always keep our sunscreen in the bag, among other things there are also in solid and super reduced version in terms of space. (Read also: Solid sunscreens: the best protections for tanning with a good Inci and plastic free).

Read all of our articles on sunscreen and vitamin D.