{"id":1940,"date":"2009-04-22T04:00:39","date_gmt":"2009-04-22T08:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/blog\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/"},"modified":"2009-04-22T04:00:39","modified_gmt":"2009-04-22T08:00:39","slug":"headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/","title":{"rendered":"HEADLINE STORY:  USA Today Columnist&#8217;s Vitamin D story was improperly perceived as racist by some readers."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A story in USA Today this week pointing out that African Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to making vitamin D from the sun \u2014 and thus are at greater risk for vitamin D deficiency \u2014 has been targeted by a few vocal readers as being racist.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><a href=\"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.jpg\" title=\"2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.thumbnail.jpg\" style=\"margin: 5px 10px 5px 0px\" alt=\"2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.jpg\" vspace=\"5\" align=\"left\" hspace=\"10\" \/><\/a>&#8220;It is clear to anyone who follows vitamin D research that the story was doing exactly the opposite: pointing out that those who say black people don&#8217;t need more sunlight exposure to make the same amount of vitamin D as a fair-skinned person are in fact the ones being racist,&#8221; Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. &#8220;Dark skin needs 6-10 times more UV to make the same amount of vitamin D as fair skinned people, and yet most public health advisories do not take this into account at all and are one-size-fits all.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>USA Today&#8217;s story began, &#8220;Can dark skin be a health hazard? It might be \u2014 if you are a dark-skinned person who lives far from the equator, gets little sun exposure and consumes little vitamin D.&#8221; The story stoked angry comments from readers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The story explained that a nationwide study found the following for vitamin D deficiency by ethic groups:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>African Americans: 97%<\/li>\n<li>Mexican Americans: 90%<\/li>\n<li>Non-Hispanic whites: 71%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The study also targeted groups defined as being &#8220;extremely low&#8221; in vitamin D:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>African Americans: 29%<\/li>\n<li>Mexican Americans: 7.5%<\/li>\n<li>Non-Hispanic whites: 2.5%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To read the article <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/news\/health\/painter\/2009-04-19-your-health_N.htm\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A story in USA Today this week pointing out that African Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to making vitamin D from the sun \u2014 and thus are at greater risk for vitamin D deficiency \u2014 has been targeted by a few vocal readers as being racist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>HEADLINE STORY: USA Today Columnist&#039;s Vitamin D story was improperly perceived as racist by some readers. - Smart Tan News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A story in USA Today this week pointing out that African Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to making vitamin D from the sun \u2014 and thus are at greater risk for vitamin D deficiency \u2014 has been targeted by a few vocal readers as being racist. &quot;It is clear to anyone who follows vitamin D research that the story was doing exactly the opposite: pointing out that those who say black people don&#039;t need more sunlight exposure to make the same amount of vitamin D as a fair-skinned person are in fact the ones being racist,&quot; Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. &quot;Dark skin needs 6-10 times more UV to make the same amount of vitamin D as fair skinned people, and yet most public health advisories do not take this into account at all and are one-size-fits all.&quot; USA Today&#039;s story began, &quot;Can dark skin be a health hazard? It might be \u2014 if you are a dark-skinned person who lives far from the equator, gets little sun exposure and consumes little vitamin D.&quot; The story stoked angry comments from readers. The story explained that a nationwide study found the following for vitamin D deficiency by ethic groups:  African Americans: 97% Mexican Americans: 90% Non-Hispanic whites: 71% The study also targeted groups defined as being &quot;extremely low&quot; in vitamin D:  African Americans: 29% Mexican Americans: 7.5% Non-Hispanic whites: 2.5% To read the article click here.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HEADLINE STORY: USA Today Columnist&#039;s Vitamin D story was improperly perceived as racist by some readers. - Smart Tan News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A story in USA Today this week pointing out that African Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to making vitamin D from the sun \u2014 and thus are at greater risk for vitamin D deficiency \u2014 has been targeted by a few vocal readers as being racist. &quot;It is clear to anyone who follows vitamin D research that the story was doing exactly the opposite: pointing out that those who say black people don&#039;t need more sunlight exposure to make the same amount of vitamin D as a fair-skinned person are in fact the ones being racist,&quot; Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. &quot;Dark skin needs 6-10 times more UV to make the same amount of vitamin D as fair skinned people, and yet most public health advisories do not take this into account at all and are one-size-fits all.&quot; USA Today&#039;s story began, &quot;Can dark skin be a health hazard? It might be \u2014 if you are a dark-skinned person who lives far from the equator, gets little sun exposure and consumes little vitamin D.&quot; The story stoked angry comments from readers. The story explained that a nationwide study found the following for vitamin D deficiency by ethic groups:  African Americans: 97% Mexican Americans: 90% Non-Hispanic whites: 71% The study also targeted groups defined as being &quot;extremely low&quot; in vitamin D:  African Americans: 29% Mexican Americans: 7.5% Non-Hispanic whites: 2.5% To read the article click here.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Tan News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SmartTan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-22T08:00:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.thumbnail.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"smarttan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmartTan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SmartTan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"smarttan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"smarttan\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4191f4b1131c0a37b4fd39f876771e7b\"},\"headline\":\"HEADLINE STORY: USA Today Columnist&#8217;s Vitamin D story was improperly perceived as racist by some readers.\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-22T08:00:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/\"},\"wordCount\":247,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.thumbnail.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/\",\"name\":\"HEADLINE STORY: USA Today Columnist's Vitamin D story was improperly perceived as racist by some readers. - Smart Tan News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.thumbnail.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-22T08:00:39+00:00\",\"description\":\"A story in USA Today this week pointing out that African Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to making vitamin D from the sun \u2014 and thus are at greater risk for vitamin D deficiency \u2014 has been targeted by a few vocal readers as being racist. \\\"It is clear to anyone who follows vitamin D research that the story was doing exactly the opposite: pointing out that those who say black people don't need more sunlight exposure to make the same amount of vitamin D as a fair-skinned person are in fact the ones being racist,\\\" Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. \\\"Dark skin needs 6-10 times more UV to make the same amount of vitamin D as fair skinned people, and yet most public health advisories do not take this into account at all and are one-size-fits all.\\\" USA Today's story began, \\\"Can dark skin be a health hazard? It might be \u2014 if you are a dark-skinned person who lives far from the equator, gets little sun exposure and consumes little vitamin D.\\\" The story stoked angry comments from readers. The story explained that a nationwide study found the following for vitamin D deficiency by ethic groups: African Americans: 97% Mexican Americans: 90% Non-Hispanic whites: 71% The study also targeted groups defined as being \\\"extremely low\\\" in vitamin D: African Americans: 29% Mexican Americans: 7.5% Non-Hispanic whites: 2.5% To read the article click here.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.thumbnail.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.thumbnail.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"HEADLINE STORY: USA Today Columnist&#8217;s Vitamin D story was improperly perceived as racist by some readers.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/\",\"name\":\"Smart Tan News\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Smart Tan\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Smart-Tan.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Smart-Tan.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":164,\"caption\":\"Smart Tan\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SmartTan\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/SmartTan\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4191f4b1131c0a37b4fd39f876771e7b\",\"name\":\"smarttan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/60bebff64d4c62315967b9126de927b81d5a9d9511fd52f9dbe9e8b344149182?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/60bebff64d4c62315967b9126de927b81d5a9d9511fd52f9dbe9e8b344149182?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/60bebff64d4c62315967b9126de927b81d5a9d9511fd52f9dbe9e8b344149182?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"smarttan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/author\/smarttan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"HEADLINE STORY: USA Today Columnist's Vitamin D story was improperly perceived as racist by some readers. - Smart Tan News","description":"A story in USA Today this week pointing out that African Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to making vitamin D from the sun \u2014 and thus are at greater risk for vitamin D deficiency \u2014 has been targeted by a few vocal readers as being racist. \"It is clear to anyone who follows vitamin D research that the story was doing exactly the opposite: pointing out that those who say black people don't need more sunlight exposure to make the same amount of vitamin D as a fair-skinned person are in fact the ones being racist,\" Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. \"Dark skin needs 6-10 times more UV to make the same amount of vitamin D as fair skinned people, and yet most public health advisories do not take this into account at all and are one-size-fits all.\" USA Today's story began, \"Can dark skin be a health hazard? It might be \u2014 if you are a dark-skinned person who lives far from the equator, gets little sun exposure and consumes little vitamin D.\" The story stoked angry comments from readers. The story explained that a nationwide study found the following for vitamin D deficiency by ethic groups:  African Americans: 97% Mexican Americans: 90% Non-Hispanic whites: 71% The study also targeted groups defined as being \"extremely low\" in vitamin D:  African Americans: 29% Mexican Americans: 7.5% Non-Hispanic whites: 2.5% To read the article click here.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"HEADLINE STORY: USA Today Columnist's Vitamin D story was improperly perceived as racist by some readers. - Smart Tan News","og_description":"A story in USA Today this week pointing out that African Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to making vitamin D from the sun \u2014 and thus are at greater risk for vitamin D deficiency \u2014 has been targeted by a few vocal readers as being racist. \"It is clear to anyone who follows vitamin D research that the story was doing exactly the opposite: pointing out that those who say black people don't need more sunlight exposure to make the same amount of vitamin D as a fair-skinned person are in fact the ones being racist,\" Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. \"Dark skin needs 6-10 times more UV to make the same amount of vitamin D as fair skinned people, and yet most public health advisories do not take this into account at all and are one-size-fits all.\" USA Today's story began, \"Can dark skin be a health hazard? It might be \u2014 if you are a dark-skinned person who lives far from the equator, gets little sun exposure and consumes little vitamin D.\" The story stoked angry comments from readers. The story explained that a nationwide study found the following for vitamin D deficiency by ethic groups:  African Americans: 97% Mexican Americans: 90% Non-Hispanic whites: 71% The study also targeted groups defined as being \"extremely low\" in vitamin D:  African Americans: 29% Mexican Americans: 7.5% Non-Hispanic whites: 2.5% To read the article click here.","og_url":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/","og_site_name":"Smart Tan News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SmartTan","article_published_time":"2009-04-22T08:00:39+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.thumbnail.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"smarttan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SmartTan","twitter_site":"@SmartTan","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"smarttan","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/"},"author":{"name":"smarttan","@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4191f4b1131c0a37b4fd39f876771e7b"},"headline":"HEADLINE STORY: USA Today Columnist&#8217;s Vitamin D story was improperly perceived as racist by some readers.","datePublished":"2009-04-22T08:00:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/"},"wordCount":247,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.thumbnail.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/","url":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/","name":"HEADLINE STORY: USA Today Columnist's Vitamin D story was improperly perceived as racist by some readers. - Smart Tan News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.thumbnail.jpg","datePublished":"2009-04-22T08:00:39+00:00","description":"A story in USA Today this week pointing out that African Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to making vitamin D from the sun \u2014 and thus are at greater risk for vitamin D deficiency \u2014 has been targeted by a few vocal readers as being racist. \"It is clear to anyone who follows vitamin D research that the story was doing exactly the opposite: pointing out that those who say black people don't need more sunlight exposure to make the same amount of vitamin D as a fair-skinned person are in fact the ones being racist,\" Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. \"Dark skin needs 6-10 times more UV to make the same amount of vitamin D as fair skinned people, and yet most public health advisories do not take this into account at all and are one-size-fits all.\" USA Today's story began, \"Can dark skin be a health hazard? It might be \u2014 if you are a dark-skinned person who lives far from the equator, gets little sun exposure and consumes little vitamin D.\" The story stoked angry comments from readers. The story explained that a nationwide study found the following for vitamin D deficiency by ethic groups: African Americans: 97% Mexican Americans: 90% Non-Hispanic whites: 71% The study also targeted groups defined as being \"extremely low\" in vitamin D: African Americans: 29% Mexican Americans: 7.5% Non-Hispanic whites: 2.5% To read the article click here.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.thumbnail.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/2009-04-22-vitamin-d-racism-copy.thumbnail.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/headline-story-usa-today-columnists-vitamin-d-story-was-improperly-perceived-as-racist-by-some-readers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"HEADLINE STORY: USA Today Columnist&#8217;s Vitamin D story was improperly perceived as racist by some readers."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/","name":"Smart Tan News","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#organization","name":"Smart Tan","url":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Smart-Tan.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Smart-Tan.png","width":500,"height":164,"caption":"Smart Tan"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SmartTan","https:\/\/x.com\/SmartTan"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4191f4b1131c0a37b4fd39f876771e7b","name":"smarttan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/60bebff64d4c62315967b9126de927b81d5a9d9511fd52f9dbe9e8b344149182?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/60bebff64d4c62315967b9126de927b81d5a9d9511fd52f9dbe9e8b344149182?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/60bebff64d4c62315967b9126de927b81d5a9d9511fd52f9dbe9e8b344149182?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"smarttan"},"url":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/author\/smarttan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}