Health Update: Elderly 'need sun'

FIFTEEN minutes of sunlight a day could reduce the risk of fracture in elderly people, according to a report in General Practitioner. Dr Jean Coope, a GP from Cheshire, says old people are too often housebound and need to sunbathe more in order to increase vitamin D intake and reduce the risk of brittle bone disease; yet many GPs hold back from recommending sunlight as a source of vitamin D because of fears of skin cancer. Death rates among the elderly from osteoporosis are far higher than from malignant melanoma, she argues.