Is there a link between sunscreen use and hypercholesterolemia?

Factual Questions
1

(Yeah, I’m taking Biochem right now, why do you ask? :smiley: )

So, as you may or may not know, our bodies use cholesterol to make Vitamin D.

Sunscreen blocks our body’s ability to make Vitamin D.

Increases in sunscreen use and sun avoidant behaviors (long sleeves, staying indoors, etc.) have been correlated with increases in low levels of Vitamin D, for reasons which are fairly intuitive.

Since our bodies use cholesterol to make Vitamin D, and aren’t doing that when we use sunscreen, does that mean people who use sunscreen/avoid sun tend to have more elevated cholesterol levels?

Or is making Vitamin D such a miniscule portion of cholesterol use that it’s not really important/measurable/dysfunctional?

(This is not a test or homework question, just the way my brain works when I’m watching lipid lecture videos at 3 am.)

2

i’m afraid I don’t know; but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised.

I don’t like sunscreen. It blocks my pores terribly, and I instantly sweat it all back off.

3

Check out Dr. Gabe Mirkin’s web site:
http://www.drmirkin.com/

In particular:
http://www.drmirkin.com/morehealth/10_vitamin_d_sunlight.html

4

Well, this PubMed article suggests that lack of sunlight may lead to higher blood cholesterol levels. I can’t find anything at all about any studies of whether sun exposure actually reduces cholesterol levels, though.

In my own (completely anecdotal and statistically worthless) personal experience, my lack of exposure to sunlight seems to have had no negative effect on my cholesterol levels. My HDL level is high, and my LDL and trigliceride levels are low. I also have vitiligo, which has caused extensive depigmentation all over my body. I cannot tolerate more than a tiny amount of sun exposure, so I take vitamin D supplements. Whatever cholesterol I have in my skin will just have to stay there.

I’d be really interested to see more studies about this; there really doesn’t seem to be much out there. So…when do you get to start doing serious lab work?

5

I will go out on a limb here and say that the impact would be by way of the effect of the vitamin D produced and not from the using up of cholesterol in the production of it.

8,000 IU of vitamin D produced from a good moderate sun exposure is about 0.25 mg. Daily cholesterol for most adults is 300 mg or more. Which does not even require asking the question of whether or not converting a more significant amount of cholesterol into some other cholesterol based product would change anything … it has to get broken down again too.

6

This site (which also reminds me of why I never did finish that biology degree) suggests, as far as I can tell, that you’re absolutely right. The liver is the major player here, and skin just doesn’t have that much to do with it.