The evolution of human skin pigmentation: A changing medley of vitamins, genetic variability, and UV radiation during human expansion.

ABSTRACT: This review examines putative, yet likely critical evolutionary pressures contributing to human skin pigmentation and subsequently, depigmentation phenotypes. To achieve this, it provides a synthesis of ideas that frame contemporary thinking, without limiting the narrative to pigmentation genes alone. It examines how geography and hence the quality and quantity of UV exposure, pigmentation genes, diet-related genes, vitamins, anti-oxidant nutrients, and cultural practices intersect and interact to facilitate the evolution of human skin color. The article has a strong focus on the vitamin D-folate evolutionary model, with updates on the latest biophysical research findings to support this paradigm. This model is examined within a broad canvas that takes human expansion out of Africa and gen

SUBMITTER: Lucock MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10083917 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature