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| LETTER TO EDITOR |
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| Year : 2017 | Volume
: 9
| Issue : 2 | Page : 91-92 |
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Comment on: Serum Vitamin D3 levels and diffuse hair fall among the student population in South India: A case–control study
Madhurima K Nayak1, Vijetha Shenoy Belle2
1 Consultant Ophthalmologist, Mangalore, Karnataka, India
2 Department of Biochemistry, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, Karnataka, India
| Date of Web Publication | 21-Jul-2017 |
Correspondence Address:
Vijetha Shenoy Belle
Department of Biochemistry, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal - 575 001, Karnataka
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/ijt.ijt_33_17
How to cite this article:
Nayak MK, Belle VS. Comment on: Serum Vitamin D3 levels and diffuse hair fall among the student population in South India: A case–control study. Int J Trichol 2017;9:91-2 |
How to cite this URL:
Nayak MK, Belle VS. Comment on: Serum Vitamin D3 levels and diffuse hair fall among the student population in South India: A case–control study. Int J Trichol [serial online] 2017 [cited 2023 Feb 7];9:91-2. Available from: https://www.ijtrichology.com/text.asp?2017/9/2/91/211314 |
Sir,
We read the article “Serum vitamin D3 levels and diffuse hair fall among the student population in South India: A case–control study” by Nayak et al.[1] with great interest. We commend the authors for their efforts. An observation made in the study, which is quite interesting, is the perception of the participants towards the cause for hair fall. A statistically significant difference was found in participants perceiving dietary factors as a cause for hair fall in the study. The query raised is whether details regarding diet were collected from the participants. There are some good dietary sources of Vitamin D such as milk, liver oil, egg yolk and fatty fish.[2] If these sources of food were found to be consumed or not, will make an important bearing on serum Vitamin D levels.
The highest conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol to pre-Vitamin D3 (28.9%) in sunlight was found to occur between 11 am and 2 pm during mid-April in a study in Tirupati, a city in South India.[3] Duration of exposure to sunlight (less or more than 30 min) was recorded in the study by Nayak et al.,[1] however, the part of the day when exposure occurred was not. The differences between the two groups were found to be statistically insiginificant (p=1.00) probably due to the period of the day during which the cases and controls were exposed to sunlight was not uniform.
As evidenced by the study, only one patient had normal level of serum Vitamin D3 in spite of choosing 22 healthy controls. This study reaffirms the problem of global hypovitaminosis D.[4]
Nonetheless, the study has included many contributing factors which may affect serum Vitamin D levels. As said by the authors, Vitamin D supplementation may emerge as a routine prescription for patients with diffuse hair fall in the near future.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
 References | |  |
| 1. | Nayak K, Garg A, Mithra P, Manjrekar P. Serum Vitamin D3 levels and diffuse hair fall among the student population in South India: A case-control study. Int J Trichology 2016;8:160-4.  [ PUBMED] |
| 2. | Vasudevan DM, Sreekumari S, Vaidyanathan K. Fat soluble vitamin. In: Textbook of Biochemistry for Medical Students. 6 th ed. New Delhi: Jaypee Brother Medical Publishers Pvt Ltd.; 2011. p. 33. |
| 3. | Harinarayan CV, Holick MF, Prasad UV, Vani PS, Himabindu G. Vitamin D status and sun exposure in India. Dermatoendocrinol 2013;5:130-41. [ PUBMED] |
| 4. | Mithal A, Wahl DA, Bonjour JP, Burckhardt P, Dawson-Hughes B, Eisman JA, et al. Global Vitamin D status and determinants of hypovitaminosis D. Osteoporos Int 2009;20:1807-20. [ PUBMED] |
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