As we kick off the New Year, the Vitamin D Council takes a look at recent research examining how vitamin D has been portrayed in print media over the last several years. As we all know too well, media plays a huge role in shaping the perceptions of people in all of our communities. Accurate, fair, or not, people tend to trust newspapers and follow the recommendations within.

The five-year review of media coverage conducted by a Canadian research team examined the general nature of the publications, details regarding research, supplementation, depth, and more, and the overall tone of the article – whether it was supportive, skeptical, or simply descriptive regarding the sunshine vitamin.

Some of the interesting themes included:

• Mentioned in 57% of articles, the most common theme was “adequate vitamin D is necessary for good health.”
• Other prominent themes included “vitamin D supplements may be necessary for good health and the prevention of chronic disease,” “it is impossible or difficult to get vitamin D from natural
• 40 health conditions were mentioned as related to vitamin D, including cancer (43%), bone health (39%) and multiple sclerosis (28%).
• That vitamin D deficiency is a health concern was mentioned in 88% of articles.
• At least one published study was cited in 40% of articles.

“[The] content analysis revealed that newspaper coverage represented vitamin D in a favorable light and suggested it was positively linked to good health and the prevention of chronic disease,” the researchers concluded. “We know the media is a powerful, persuasive source of health information. Given our findings that the popular press has been consistently endorsing supplementation, it seems reasonable to conclude the popular press is, at least in part, helping to fuel the demand for vitamin D supplements and to the confusion about its value.”

Unfortunately, the study did not look at which article discussed UV as the natural source of vitamin D, which would be valuable information from our industry’s perspective.

Click here to read more from the Vitamin D Council.

SmartTan.com news articles regularly report medical and scientific information to keep you abreast of current events related to UV light. This information is not intended to be used by any party to make unwarranted health claims to promote sunbed usage. Indoor tanning businesses are obligated to communicate a fair and balanced message to all clients about your products and services including the potential risks associated with indoor tanning. Contact your Smart Tan representative to find out more about what you can and can’t say in your tanning salon business.

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