Does Daily Sunscreen Lower Your Vitamin D?

It can, a little. In a year-long Australian trial of 639 adults, people asked to put on SPF 50+ sunscreen every day ended up with lower vitamin D in their blood than people who used sunscreen only when they felt like it, and more of them finished the year below the trial’s cutoff for deficiency: 45.7 percent against 36.9 percent. The researchers who ran it still recommend regular sunscreen use. Their conclusion was that daily users may need a vitamin D test, a supplement or both. Nothing in it says to wear less sunscreen. So keep the sunscreen, and treat vitamin D as something to check instead of something to chase in the sun.

The trial behind the headline

It’s called the Sun-D Trial. It was led by researchers at QIMR Berghofer, a medical research institute in Brisbane, and published in the British Journal of Dermatology in 2025. They recruited Australian adults aged 18 to 70 who weren’t regular sunscreen users and weren’t taking vitamin D supplements, then split them at random into two groups.

One group, 319 people, was asked to apply SPF 50+ sunscreen as part of the morning routine on every day the UV index was forecast to reach 3 or higher. The UV index is the daily number in a weather forecast that says how strong the sun’s ultraviolet rays will be. The study supplied the sunscreen. The other group, 320 people, was told to use sunscreen at their own discretion. So this was never sunscreen against no sunscreen. It was a daily habit against using it whenever you think of it.

The trial ran for about a year. Blood was taken at the start, in winter and spring, and again at the end of summer and at the end of the following winter. The lab measured 25-hydroxyvitamin D, written 25(OH)D, which is the main form of vitamin D that circulates in blood and the thing a standard vitamin D test reports. In the end, 628 people were included in the analysis. Their median age was 52, and 66.1 percent identified as female.

What the numbers say

The two groups started in nearly the same place. Over the trial, levels rose in both, but they rose less in the daily sunscreen group. The gap between the groups was 5.2 nmol/L, and the range the researchers consider plausible for that gap runs from 3.2 to 7.2. (nmol/L is the unit this trial used. Lab reports don’t all use the same unit, so check which one yours is in before you compare.)

The trial defined deficiency as a level below 50 nmol/L. By that definition, deficiency was 1.33 times as common in the daily group as in the comparison group at the final blood draw. The authors report that the effect held across different regions of Australia and different amounts of sun exposure, that it was larger in the people who used the sunscreen as asked, and that it was still there among people who didn’t take supplements during the year.

There’s a reason this result stands out. The authors note that earlier studies of daily sunscreen at around SPF 16 found no effect on vitamin D levels, and that this was the first to look at daily high-SPF use in people.

What it can’t tell us

• It was open-label. Everyone knew which group they were in. There’s no way to hide a daily sunscreen habit from the person doing it, and knowing could change behavior in other ways, such as how long someone stays outside. The lab staff and analysts did work without knowing who was in which group.
• It was one country. Every participant lived in Australia. The result may not carry over neatly to places with different sun, seasons and habits.
• It lasted about a year. It can’t say what happens over five or ten.
• It measured a blood level. The published summary reports vitamin D numbers. It doesn’t report whether anyone felt different or had a health problem as a result.
• The deficiency figure was a secondary look. The main question was how much levels changed. The deficiency comparison was what researchers call an exploratory outcome, which carries less weight than the main one.
• The comparison group used some sunscreen too. The trial shows the difference between daily use and occasional use, not between sunscreen and bare skin.
• The people in it were new to daily sunscreen and weren’t on supplements. If that doesn’t describe you, your numbers may look different.

Two more things for context. Several of the authors hold a grant from Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council. The paper also discloses that some authors work for Cancer Council organizations, part of a body that sells sunscreen to fund cancer research, prevention and support. And other researchers, from Rome and Edinburgh, published a formal comment on the trial in the same journal in April 2026. One trial starts a scientific conversation. It doesn’t finish it.

So should you stop wearing sunscreen every day?

No, and the people who found the effect say so themselves. Their plain-language summary puts it this way: they recommend continued regular sunscreen use, and vitamin D testing, supplementation or both may be needed.

That’s the sensible way to read it. Sunscreen is regulated as a drug in the US, and a broad spectrum SPF 15 or higher carries a specific claim on its label: used as directed with other sun protection measures, it decreases the risk of skin cancer and early skin aging caused by the sun. A low vitamin D level, meanwhile, is something a blood test can find.

If you wear sunscreen daily and you’ve never had your vitamin D checked, ask your doctor whether a test makes sense for you, and let them decide what to do with the result. Our piece on why so many of us run low on vitamin D covers the test and what else affects your level.

Daily SPF 50 face sunscreens to keep using

The published summary doesn’t name the sunscreen the trial handed out, so none of these is “the one from the study.” They’re SPF 50 face sunscreens that are easy to wear every morning, which is the habit the authors want you to keep.

Prices move constantly, so we link to live listings instead of printing a number that is wrong by the time you read it. Links go to Amazon, which is where a referral gets credited.

Neutrogena Clear Face Sunscreen Lotion SPF 50 is about $12, though the price changes often. It’s an oil-free, broad spectrum lotion with four chemical filters: avobenzone 3%, homosalate 10%, octisalate 5% and octocrylene 10%. It’s water resistant for 80 minutes, which helps on a sweaty commute.

Cetaphil Sheer Mineral Face Sunscreen SPF 50 uses a single filter, zinc oxide at 12%, in a thin liquid you shake before using. The formula also has niacinamide and vitamin E, and it’s water resistant for 80 minutes. At about $13 it’s the cheapest mineral pick here.

CeraVe Hydrating Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50 Face pairs titanium dioxide 9% with zinc oxide 7% in a lotion that also has three ceramides, niacinamide and a form of hyaluronic acid. It isn’t water resistant, so it’s a desk-day sunscreen, not a beach one. About $14.

Eucerin Sun Age Defense Face Sunscreen Lotion SPF 50 is a fragrance-free lotion built on avobenzone, homosalate, octisalate and octocrylene, with a form of hyaluronic acid in the base. It also isn’t water resistant. About $16.

La Roche-Posay Anthelios Fluid Mineral Sunscreen for Face SPF 50 is the splurge at about $30: titanium dioxide 6% and zinc oxide 5% in a runny fluid you shake first. It’s water resistant for 40 minutes.

All five carry the same core directions. Apply generously 15 minutes before sun exposure and reapply at least every two hours. For how much “generously” means, see how much sunscreen to apply. If you’re weighing a lower number, here’s SPF 30 against SPF 50, and there are more options by skin type in our face sunscreen guide.

If I Were You

If you wear SPF 50 every morning and have never had a vitamin D test, change nothing about the sunscreen and bring up testing at your next checkup.

If you were thinking of skipping sunscreen to get your vitamin D up, don’t. The researchers who measured the drop still recommend regular sunscreen use, and the gap they found was a few points on a blood test.

If a blood test has already shown you’re low, the sunscreen isn’t the thing to change. The trial’s authors pointed to testing and supplementation, not to less sun protection.

If you only put sunscreen on for beach days, you look more like the trial’s comparison group than its daily group. This study is a reason to know your vitamin D number once you go daily. It isn’t a reason to stay occasional.

If you don’t live anywhere like Australia, hold the exact figures loosely. They come from one country over one year.

Bottom line

One randomized trial suggests that wearing high-SPF sunscreen every day leaves vitamin D a bit lower than wearing it now and then, at least over a year in Australia. The same researchers say to keep wearing it. The practical takeaway is small: stay with your morning SPF, and get your vitamin D checked instead of guessing. There’s more in our skin care archive.