ReviewNutrients2018
The Vitamin D⁻Folate Hypothesis as an Evolutionary Model for Skin Pigmentation: An Update and Integration of Current Ideas.
Review in Nutrients, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Differential responses to folic acid in an established keloid fibroblast cell line are mediated by JAK1/2 and STAT3.PloS one · 2021Trial
- Not by Selection Alone: Expanding the Scope of Gene-Culture Coevolution.Evolutionary anthropology · 2025Review
- Our ancestry dictates clonal architecture and skin cancer susceptibility.Nature genetics · 2023Article
- Neural crest cells as a source of microevolutionary variation.Seminars in cell & developmental biology · 2023Review
- The evolution of human skin pigmentation: A changing medley of vitamins, genetic variability, and UV radiation during human expansion.American journal of biological anthropology · 2023Review
- Influence of narrowband ultraviolet B phototherapy on serum folate level in skin of color females: A cross-sectional study.International journal of women's dermatology · 2022Article
- Distribution of variants in multiple vitamin D-related loci (DHCR7/NADSYN1, GC, CYP2R1, CYP11A1, CYP24A1, VDR, RXRα and RXRγ) vary between European, East-Asian and Sub-Saharan African-ancestry populations.Genes & nutrition · 2020Article
- Synergy of melanin and vitamin-D may play a fundamental role in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infections and halt COVID-19 by inactivating furin protease.Translational medicine communications · 2020Review
- Skin fairness is a better predictor for impaired physical and mental health than hair redness.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- By protecting against cutaneous inflammation, epidermal pigmentation provided an additional advantage for ancestral humans.Evolutionary applications · 2019Article
- On the sunny side of (new) life: Effect of sunshine duration on age at first reproduction in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata).American journal of primatology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Vitamin D is unique in being generated in our skin following ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure. Ongoing research into vitamin D must therefore always consider the influence of UVR on vitamin D processes. The close relationship between vitamin D and UVR forms the basis of the “vitamin D⁻folate hypothesis”, a popular theory for why human skin colour has evolved as an apparent adaption to UVR environments. Vitamin D and folate have disparate sensitivities to UVR; whilst vitamin D may be synthesised following UVR exposure, folate may be degraded. The vitamin D⁻folate hypothesis proposes that skin pigmentation has evolved as a balancing mechanism, maintaining levels of these vitamins. There are several alternative theories that counter the vitamin D⁻folate hypothesis. However, there is significant overlap between these theories and the now known actions of vitamin D and folate in the skin. The focus of this review is to present an update on the vitamin D⁻folate hypothesis by integrating these current theories and discussing new evidence that supports associations between vitamin D and folate genetics, UVR, and skin pigmentation. In light of recent human migrations and seasonality in disease, the need for ongoing research into potential UVR-responsive processes within the body is also discussed.
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