INFLUENCE OF SUNSHINE ON THE SERUM LEVELS OF VITAMIN D

Abstract

Vitamin D - anti-rheumatic vitamin - directly related to calcium and phosphate metabolism and bone formation. In recent years, it has been proven to be much more important because it also has an impact on cells of the immune system, heart, endocrine and muscle cells. Vitamin deficiency also involves mental illness such as depression and schizophrenia. For the synthesis of enough vitamin D it is necessary to have a daily, all year round direct exposure to direct sunlight for at least 20-30 minutes a day. The geographic location of Republic of Bulgaria provides the average annual sunshine duration around 2150 hours and it is about 49% of the maximum possible sunshine. However, the majority (58.33%) of the study participants had a "deficiency" in serum levels of vitamin D, snd there is also a large percentage of those who are less often outdoors.