Due to the lack of Sun in the northern hemisphere, the people of Ottawa ( and Canadians in general ) can become Vit-D deficient. Statistics Canada claims there is over 1.1 million Canadians in this category.
Vitamin-D deficiency causes the body to absorb very little calcium. This is because Vitamin-D helps our body utilize phosphorus and calcium ( important for building and maintaining strong teeth and bones ).
UV light is your body’s preferred way of getting it’s daily need of Vit-D. It’s been proven that your body doesn’t bio-availability utilize Vit-D in food supplementation like it does with exposure to UV light ( tanning ). There is direct evidence that supports this, for example: The average white Caucasian person had a blood concentration level of Vit-D of 71 nmol/L of blood, well under the touted optimum levels, while non-whites were far lower at 52 nmol/L (Stats Canada). This is because the darker you are ( or more tanned you are ) the less UV light that is absorbed through your skin and thus less Vitamin-D created. Through 190,000 years of biological evolution, our bodies were designed and created to intake the sun and make a very important vitamin out of it.
One study proves that tanning indoors in linked to higher Vit-D levels ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15585781 ).
Yours truly,
Mike Belanger
Manager
Bel-O-Sol Ottawa Tanning Salon