As a parent, you've probably heard that vitamin D is important for mental and general wellbeing. Your child always wears a hat, sunscreen and a long-sleeve shirt when outdoors and you begin to wonder: should you let him get a little sun? How much is healthy and how much is dangerous?
Vitamin D is produced from sun exposure.
What is the 'right' amount of vitamin D?
How does vitamin D affect the health of my child?
Can they get what they need from a supplement, or is there value in limited time in the sun?
These are the questions that we aim to answer with Project D-Light. At the moment we don't fully understand how vitamin D affects our bodies - and we understand even less about how it affects our children's bodies.
Parents receive conflicting messages from 'no sun exposure is good exposure', to 'a small amount of sun' has a positive effect on children's health.
Our D-Light research will provide the evidence base to improve the health and wellbeing of children through better understanding the breadth and magnitude of risks and benefits of sun exposure.
We aim to understand and harness the benefits of vitamin D and sunlight for the health of Australia's children while protecting them from the proven dangers of too much UV.
Our current studies include:
- Using data from the Raine Study to understand the impact of Vitamin D and sunlight in pregnancy and early life on children's future health.
- Our PhoCIS Study is the first in the world to look at prevention of multiple sclerosis using UV-B phototherapy.
- Our SEDS Study examines vitamin D and non-vitamin D pathways from sun exposure to better health, and tests sun exposure advice as a management tool for mild vitamin D deficiency.
- Melanoma is the most common cancer in young adults in Australia. Sun exposure is the strongest risk factor for melanoma, but higher vitamin D status at diagnosis is associated with better prognosis. Our work will help unpack this conundrum.
Key research over the next 3 - 5 years
- A saliva test for deficiency: We are working with WA Metabolomics to develop a world first measure for salivary vitamin D, in order to establish levels of vitamin D deficiency in WA children - painlessly.
- Links to poor mental and physical health: Does vitamin D deficiency contribute to ill health: depression, short-sightedness, asthma and others?
Do these disorders cause vitamin D deficiency (because individuals stay indoors), or is vitamin D a marker for low sun exposure, and it is low sun exposure that is the key risk factor? - Sun exposure separate to vitamin D: Within 3 years, we will better understand whether sun exposure itself has beneficial effects on health.
- A parent's guide to sun exposure and vitamin D: By year 5, we will have the capability to provide guidance on just how much sun exposure is required for optimal health.
Who we work with
The D-Light Project researchers include:
- epidemiologists
- public health physicians
- immunologists
- respiratory physiologists
- nutritionists
- psychologists
- health promotion practitioners
- ophthalmologists
- clinicians
- biostatisticians and others.
Furthermore, we work across the spectrum of risks and benefits of sun exposure and from prevention (e.g. of skin cancer) to treatment (immune modulation of melanoma).
Our aim is for this community of researchers with a shared interest in sun exposure, vitamin D and children's health to be able to work synergistically - pushing each other to pose new questions, develop new data sources, and uncover new understandings.
Our local team
D-Light at the Telethon Kids Institute is headed by Professors Prue Hart and Robyn Lucas.