I think the issue Pat, is that it's often reported like that.  Mums with
dark skin have been told by Drs that there is a problem with dark skin
not making enough Vit D, and it's an 'African-American' problem.

And just as it's not true that breastmilk is deficient in any way, it's
not true that dark skin has a problem with synthesising Vit D.

Equally, all people of all skin tones need to be reminded to keep an eye
on how much sun they get.  I can appreciate the short hand in summing up
issues.  After all, you give your advice in your sun zone.

However, people reading this list, and people reading the
recommendations, all live in different sun zones.  Someone sitting
reading this in Kenya, for instance, with dark skin, is going to look
askance as 'dark skin' being a risk factor for Vit D deficiency.  It's
the _sun_ that must be discussed first - and then skin exposure to it.
And then the relationship to to the sun zone, and the nature of the
skin, which is pretty low down.

In the UK, our particular problem is religious dress codes.  Some
religious dress codes, in combination with our Northern Sun, is creating
a rickets problem.

Don't matter a jot the colour of the skin under the dress code.  Nor the
religion.  But it's not reported that way.  Breastfeeding supporters
have walked into meetings to have discussions on the problem with
'Muslim breastfeeding women and rickets'.

Erm.  NO!!!!!!!  :-)

Morgan Gallagher

Pat Young wrote:
> I did not mean to imply that dark skin was "bad."  Just need to remind
> people with dark skin to pay attention to how much sun they get,
> especially in the darker times of the year (Nov to March here).
>
> In the middle of the winter in Atlantic City NJ (east coast USA) moms
> of color will mention to me that their children are "pale."  I just
> tell them the same as moms of light skin kids - they've lost their
> summer "tan."
>
> We recommend sun screen for all and stay out of the sun from 10-2 in
> the summer. And yes, the dark skin moms laugh at me.  Pat in SNJ
>

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