VITAMIN D ASSESSMENT IN HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS IN RELATION WITH SKIN COLOR, SUN EXPOSURE

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is converted to a hormone within the body itself. Skin is the only organ where both cholesterol and vitamin D3 are synthesized. By definition, hormones are considered to be chemical messengers that relay messages to cells. Hormones cause cells to express specific sequences of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which is contained within the cell nucleus. Vitamin D is mainly produced during exposure to sunlight; UV-B photos (290-315 nm) penetrate skin where they are absorbed by 7-dehydrocholesterol (7-DHC). The present study was planned to “Assessment of vitamin D status in healthy volunteers and to correlate levels of vitamin D in relation with skin color and sun-exposure. The study was conducted in the Department of Biochemistry, M. M. Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Mullana, Ambala (Haryana). The study population two hundred (200) healthy volunteers were derived from employees and students aged 20-60 years of either sex. In our study 57.5% of total subjects had vitamin D deficiency. The subjects used to daily sun light exposure were 71(35.5%) out of 200, among 71 there was 61(71.8%) had normal vitamin D and in 10(8.7%) had abnormal level of vitamin D had low prevalence as compare to other subjects who got, less amount of sun light exposure and the association of vitamin D level was found statistically highly significant (p=0.000) with sun light exposure and also found that the association of vitamin D level was found statistically highly significant (p=0.000) with skin color of all study subjects