Sun Exposure and Vitamin D Synthesis: a First Look Inside the Usefulness of Mobile Apps

Exposure to solar radiation is the main source of vitamin D for the body. Vitamin D is essential for skeletal health and may play important roles in the immune and cardiometabolic systems, as well as in the regulation of cell proliferation. On the other hand, solar radiation is classified by IARC as carcinogenic to humans. Striking a balance between harms and benefits of sun exposure is highly desirable. Toward this goal, wearable sensors and smartphone applications coupling the monitoring of the UV index to an estimation of skin synthesized vitamin D could influence people to adopt behaviors leading to healthy and safe sun exposure. In this work, we will give a first look to the usefulness of specific smartphone applications that monitor the users' sun exposure to assess the Vitamin D production.