Getting Enough Vitamin D

BALTIMORE - Summer is coming to a close and that is sad for a number of reasons. Those sunny days are the best time to stock up on Vitamin D and less sunlight means less chances.
Tuesday on Good Morning Maryland @ 9, Megan Pringle sat down with Dr. Alicia Arbaje from Johns Hopkins Medicine who talked why everyone needs to think about their Vitamin D levels, but especially older adults. Dr. Arbaje talked about why getting out into the sunshine for a little bit each day certainly helps, but also what kinds of supplements and foods one can take to help increase their levels of Vitamin D.
Dr. Arbaje also had a simple guideline to know how much time you should spend outside to help get enough Vitamin D:
For people living in this area: if you go outside today 9/7/10 at 10AM after the show and stand on the sidewalk, here is the amount of time you would need to expose your face, hands, arms (without sunscreen) to MAINTAIN 1000 IU of Vitamin D
- Sunny day: 15 min if light -skinned, 25 min if medium -skinned, and 50 min if dark-skinned
- Cloudy day: 50 min if light -skinned, 1 ½ hr if medium -skinned, and 2 ½ hr if dark-skinned