A 48-year-old woman in China recently fractured a bone while simply rolling over in bed. This injury happened because she had avoided sunlight for most of her life, fearing that it would cause her skin to tan.
Doctors found that her vitamin D levels were critically low, which led to severe osteoporosis, a condition that weakens bones. The woman, who has not been named, never wore short sleeves and always used sunscreen to protect herself from the sun since her childhood.
Long Shuang, a doctor at the XinDu Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, reported the case on May 14. Jiang Xiaobing, a Chief Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon at a hospital in Guangzhou, explained that a lack of vitamin D, low calcium intake, and not getting enough sunlight all make it harder for the body to absorb calcium, leading to weak bones.
He added that lifestyle choices such as being inactive, smoking, and drinking too much alcohol can also harm bone health. Bones usually regenerate every ten years, but after the age of 30, people start losing bone mass at a rate of about 0.5 to 1 percent per year.
This incident has ignited a discussion in China about the growing trend of women taking extreme measures to avoid sun exposure. Many have taken to wearing wide-brimmed hats and UV-resistant clothing to protect their skin from tanning.
