Photograph by Sarah Leen; map created by George Chaplin

Australian Aborigine Glenys Martin holds a map of human

skin colors based on global ultraviolet radiation intensity and
precipitation levels.

A New Light on Skin Color

By Saadia Iqbal
Differences in skin color are intriguing, but few of us have
a clear idea what causes the variations. Scientists have
long known that human skin color varies with the amount
of exposure to the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation, but
until recently they had not identified the process of natural
selection that actually influences this phenomenon.

Now the work of scientists Nina Jablonski and George

Chaplin, of the California Academy of Sciences, casts a
new light on race concepts by relating skin-color variation
to evolution and reproduction.
Folate and the Sunshine Vitamin

Melanin, the brown pigment in the skin, acts as a natural

sunscreen. It protects against UV, and populations in the
tropics are darker skinned since there is more sunlight
where they live. UV ages the skin, causes skin cancer,
andmost significant to Jablonski and Chaplin's work
breaks down folate, essential vitamin B needed for cell
division and producing new DNA.
Pregnant women in particular require large amounts of
folate to support rapid cell division in the embryo. Women
of reproductive age are advised to take folate supplements
to prevent serious birth defects such as spina bifida. So if
a higher melanin level is so beneficial, why isn't everyone
dark-skinned? In their analysis of human evolutionary
history, Jablonski and Chaplin concluded that modern
humans most likely evolved in the tropics, where they
were exposed to high UV levels. But as they moved into
regions away from the equator, where UV levels are
lower, humans became fairer so as to allow enough UV
radiation to penetrate their skin and produce vitamin D,
the "sunshine vitamin," also obtained from eating fish and
marine mammals. Vitamin D is essential for maintaining
healthy blood levels of calcium and phosphorous, and
thus promoting bone growth.

Skin color, according to Jablonski and Chaplin, basically

becomes a balancing act between the evolutionary
demands of photo-protection and the need to create
vitamin D in the skin.
But things aren't always what they ought to be. That is the
case with Eskimos and other inhabitants of northern
Alaska and northern Canada. "Looking at Alaska, one
would think that the native people should be pale as
ghosts," Jablonski says. One of the reasons they're not is
that these populations have not lived in the region very
long in terms of geological time. But more importantly,
their traditional diet is rich in fish and other seafood.
They've consumed huge doses of vitamin D, so they
haven't had to undergo the same reduction in pigmentation
that would otherwise be required at such high latitudes.
"What's really interesting is that if these people don't eat
their aboriginal diets of fish and marine mammals, they
suffer tremendously high rates of vitamin D-deficiency
diseases such as rickets in children and osteoporosis in
adults," Jablonski says.
A similar problem occurs when dark-skinned people
move to northern latitudes. "For years people couldn't
understand why dark Indians and Pakistanis living in
northern England suffered from vitamin D-deficiency
diseases," Jablonski says. "Now it has become clear that
the natural sunscreen in their skins wouldn't allow them to
synthesize enough vitamin D from the sunlight." Cultural
factors exacerbated the problem, such as the wearing of
veils by some Muslim women. "It's a real detective story",
she adds.

Race: A Manmade Grouping

One of the important implications of Jablonski and

Chaplin's work is that it underlines the concept of race as
purely a social construct, with no scientific grounds. DNA
research has shown that genetically all humans, regardless
of skin color and other surface distinctions, are basically
the same. In an April 2001 article titled, "The Genetic
Archaeology of Race," published in the Atlantic Monthly,
Steve Olson writes "the genetic variants affecting skin
color and facial features are essentially meaningless
they probably involve a few hundred of the billions of
nucleotides in a person's DNA. Yet societies have built
elaborate systems of privilege and control on these
insignificant genetic differences."
Jablonski and Chaplin view their work as relevant to how
we get along with each other. According to Jablonski,
many people are "happy and relieved" when they hear
about this research. "All of a sudden their own coloration
isn't something that was just handed to them," she says.
"It isn't a social stigma. It's something that evolved in their
ancestors for a good set of biological reasons. And it takes
the wind out of racism and bigotry. It's a fairly simple and
beautiful explanation for one of the most obvious
characteristics that distinguishes humans."

More about races:

With the exception of

monozygotic
twins,
every one of us is
genetically
different
from every other human
whoever lived. Each of
us is unique in terms of Similar appearance of children
the combination of tens from the same region of Asia
of
thousands
of due to a shared gene pool
genetically determined
characteristics that we possess. However, we
clearly have some traits in common with other
people. Most of us have readily identifiable male or
female sexual characteristics which we share with
others of our gender. People who are closely related
to each other usually have even greater similarity in
appearance because much of their genetic makeup
is shared. Unrelated people whose ancestors came
from the same part of the world often are generally
similar in terms of such body features as skin and
hair color, facial characteristics, body shape, and
stature. Not surprisingly, these traits have a strong
genetic component as well. However, they can be
affected by environmental influences. For instance,
skin color often can be darkened, or tanned,
seasonally by prolonged exposure to ultraviolet
radiation from the sun. Likewise, stature can be
affected by nutrition.

When young children do not receive sufficient

calories in their diet, especially protein, their growth
is likely to be stunted--they will not reach their full
genetically programmed height. Humans like to
classify and use identity labels for people and things
with which we come in contact. It satisfies our
apparent need for a sense of order. In addition to
gender and age, most of us readily classify each
other into distinct categories on the basis of what we
consider to be races. In North America, people
usually think in terms of Black, White, Asian,
Hispanic or Latino, and Indian or Native
American. These are all archaic concepts of
physical types that have little biological
reality. Academics may use more sophisticated
sounding terms for these perceived biological
groupings, such as Negroid, Caucasoid or
Caucasian, and Mongoloid. Nevertheless, they are
still bad science. However, they are important to
contemporary life in North America because they
reflect culturally defined differences in our
society. They are essentially labels of ethnicity that
are used for categorizing and discriminating. We
now know that clearly distinct human biological
races do not now exist. This does not mean that our
species is lacking anatomical and physiological
variation between populations. Rather, the true
nature of that variation is far more complex.
It does not correspond to commonly believed simple
racial lines.

Data for native populations collected by R. Biasutti prior to 1940.

The Physical traits that we think of as clustering

together among particular peoples often have much
broader distributions. They continue well outside of the
geographic areas in which a "race" is stereotypically
supposed to exist. For instance, dark brown skin is
usually thought of as the key trait in distinguishing subSaharan Africans from people elsewhere in the
world. However, dark brown skin is also found in parts
of southern Asia, Australia, and New Guinea and on the
nearby islands of Melanesia.
(see also not mentioned: Alaska and Siberia)

The non-African peoples with

dark brown skin color (like the
man in the photo from New
Guinea) do not share a close
common
ancestry
with
Africans. Their skin coloration is
largely due to natural selection
than recent shared
Papua New Guinean rather
The environmental
(from the Southwest descent.
Pacific Ocean)
factors that led to dark brown
skin among Africans apparently
led to it elsewhere as well. Genetically inherited traits
often have a clinal distribution. That is to say there
is a continuous, progressive gradation moving from
one geographic region to another. The frequency of
yellow-brown hair among Australian Aborigines
illustrates this trend (as shown by the map on the left
below). This trait generally becomes more common
with distance from the coast. Such patterns can
result when selective pressures differ from one
region to another and when people mate mostly with
their immediate neighbors. Selective pressures
favoring or discriminating against a trait may come
from several sources. There may be natural
selection resulting from environmental constraints.
At the same time, there also may be patterns of
culturally defined discriminatory mate selection that
vary from region to region.

Discontinuous distribution of red hair in Britain

Clinal distribution of hair color among Australian Aborigines

Sometimes, the distribution of genetically inherited

traits does not follow a pattern of gradual change
from one geographic region to another, but has a
discontinuous distribution. The frequency of red
hair in Britain illustrates this sort of pattern. Note in
the map on the right above that there are several
relatively isolated pockets where there is a high
frequency of people with red hair. Such a pattern can
result when groups of people migrate into a new area or
when there are closed breeding groups that select mates
based on such a trait.

More:

Skin Color Adaptation

Human skin color is quite variable around the
world. It ranges from a very dark brown among
some Africans, Australian Aborigines, and
Melanesians to a near yellowish pink among some
Northern Europeans. There are no people who
actually have true black, white, red, or yellow
skin. These are commonly used color terms that do
not reflect biological reality.

Some of the variation in human skin coloration

Sub-Saharan African, Indian
South and North European

Skin color is due primarily to the presence of a

pigment called melanin, which is controlled by at
least 6 genes. Both light and dark complexioned
people have melanin. However, two forms are
produced--pheomelanin, which is red to yellow in
color, and eumelanin, which is dark brown to
black. People with light complexioned skin mostly
produce pheomelanin, while those with dark colored
skin mostly produce eumelanin. In addition,
individuals differ in the number and size of melanin
particles. The latter two variables are more
important in determining skin color than the
percentages of the different kinds of melanin. In
lighter skin, color is also affected by red cells in blood
flowing close to the skin. To a lesser extent, the
color is affected by the presence of fat under the skin
and carotene , a reddish-orange pigment in the
skin. Hair color is also due to the presence of
melanin. Melanin is normally located in the
epidermis, or outer skin layer. It is produced at the
base of the epidermis by specialized cells called
melanocytes.

These cells have photosensitive receptors, similar to

those in the eye, that detect ultraviolet radiation
from the sun and other sources. In response, they
produce melanin within a few hours of exposure.

Cross section of human skin

(colors are not true to life in this illustration)

Nature has selected for people with darker skin in

tropical latitudes, especially in non-forested regions,
where ultraviolet radiation from the sun is usually the
most intense. Melanin acts as a protective biological
shield against ultraviolet radiation. By doing this, it
helps to prevent sunburn damage that could result in
DNA changes and, subsequently, several kinds of
malignant skin cancers. Melanoma in particular is a
serious threat to life. In the United States,
approximately 54,000 people get this aggressive
type of skin cancer every year and nearly 8,000 of
them die from it. Those at highest risk are European
Americans. They have a 10 times higher risk than
African Americans.

Ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth usually

increases in summer and decreases in winter. The
skin's ability to tan in summertime is an
acclimatization to this seasonal change. Tanning is
primarily an increase in the number and size of
melanin granules due to the stimulation of ultraviolet
radiation.
While skin tanning is often most
noticeable on light complexioned
people, even those with very dark
brown skin can tan as a result of
prolonged exposure to the
sun. Some Northwest Europeans
have substantially lost the ability to
tan as a result of relaxed natural
selection. Their skin burns and
peels rather than tans. This is due
to the fact that they produce a
Irish boy who
defective form of a skin protein
is essentially
unable to tan
Mc1r (melanocortin-1 receptor)
which is necessary for the
production of melanin. They are at a distinct
disadvantage
in
tropical
and
subtropical
environments. Not only do they suffer the discomfort
of readily burning, but they are at a much higher risk
for skin cancer. The same is true of albinos.
It would be harmful if melanin acted as a complete
shield. A certain amount of shortwave ultraviolet
radiation (UVB) must penetrate the outer skin layer
in order for the body to produce vitamin D.

Approximately 90% of this vitamin in people normally

is synthesized in their skin and the kidneys from a
cholesterol-like precursor chemical with the help of
ultraviolet radiation. The remaining 10% comes
from foods such as fatty fish and egg yolks. Simple
vitamin D is converted by our bodies into two
sequential forms. The last form, commonly referred
to as vitamin D3, is needed for the intestines to
absorb calcium and phosphorus from food for bone
growth and repair. Calcium is also necessary in
adults to maintain normal heart action, blood clotting,
and a stable nervous system. New evidence
suggests that vitamin D may help prevent a wide
range of cancers, including those of the colon and
breasts. Vitamin D plays an additional important role
in promoting the production of cathelicidin, which
helps to defend our bodies against fungal, bacterial,
and viral infections, including the common flu.
Too much ultraviolet radiation penetrating the skin
may cause the breakdown of folate in the body,
which can cause anemia. Folate is derived from folic
acid (one of the B vitamins) in our food. Pregnant
women who are deficient in folate are at a higher risk
of having miscarriages and babies with neural tube
defects. Because folate is needed for DNA
replication in dividing cells, its absence can have an
effect on many body processes, including the
production of sperm cells. It may be that the ability
to produce melanin was selected for in our early
human ancestors because it helped preserve the
body's supply of folate in addition to reducing the
chances of developing skin cancer.

People who live in far northern latitudes, where solar

radiation is relatively weak most of the year, have an
advantage if their skin has little shielding
pigmentation. Nature selects for less melanin when
ultraviolet radiation is weak. In such an
environment, very dark skin is a disadvantage
because it can prevent people from producing
enough vitamin D, potentially resulting in rickets
disease in children and osteoporosis in adults.
Contributing to the development of osteoporosis in
older people is the fact that their skin generally loses
some of its ability to produce vitamin D. Women who
had prolonged vitamin D deficiencies as girls have a
higher incidence of pelvic deformities that prevent
normal delivery of babies.
The Inuit people of the American Subarctic are an
exception. They have moderately heavy skin
pigmentation despite the far northern latitude at
which they live. While this is a disadvantage for
vitamin D production, they apparently made up for it
by eating fish and sea mammal blubber that are high
in vitamin D. In addition, the Inuit have been in the
far north for only about 5,000 years. This may not
have been enough time for significantly lower
melanin production to have been selected for by
nature. In the United States and other developed
nations, milk is now usually fortified with vitamins D
and A in order to prevent developmental problems
such as those described above.

However, the popularity of carbonated soft drinks

and other alternatives to milk along with a decrease
in the amount of time spent outdoors has led to a
considerable rise in the rate of rickets disease. Not
surprisingly, vitamin D deficiency is most acute in the
winter in temperate and colder zones, especially
among people of African ancestry. There is a
growing epidemic of vitamin D deficiency in the
United
States.
The
2007-2008
"National
Government Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey" found that only 23% of teens and adults had
a sufficient amount of this essential vitamin in their
blood. It was 45% a decade earlier. The rate for
African Americans in particular was far worse. It has
dropped from 12% to only 3% having what doctors
consider to be an adequate amount of vitamin D for
overall good health. Given this difference, it is not
surprising that 15% African American women have
pelvis deformities, while the rate among European
Americans is only 2%.
There is also a strong correlation between the
amount of sunlight that children are exposed to and
whether or not they will develop multiple sclerosis as
adults. Most cases of this degenerative neural
disorder are in the temperate regions of the world
where the sunlight is rarely intense. Children
growing up in tropical and subtropical regions rarely
develop MS regardless of where their ancestors
came from. This protection apparently continues for
those who move to far northern or far southern
regions after 16 years of age.

What processes are responsible for this protection

from MS and its possible relationship to skin color
are unknown.
New research by Nina Jablonski and George
Chaplin has led to the discovery that women
generally produce 3-4% less melanin in their skin
than do men in all populations of the world. They
suggest that this is probably due to the fact that
women have far higher calcium requirements during
their reproductive years. Mate selection preference
and other cultural practices may also be partly
responsible for this gender difference in skin
coloration.
Nina Jablonski breaks the illusion of skin color-explanation of why humans have a wide variation
in skin color around the world.
This link takes you to an external website.
(length = 14 mins, 46 secs)

Extensions
Students may appreciate reading an article in Science
magazine, Zebrafish Researchers Hook Gene to Human
Skin Color, about how an international team of
researchers were able to identify a zebrafish pigmentation
gene and its human counterpart, which is thought to
account for a significant part of the difference between
African and European skin color.

To further their learning on the topics of this lesson,

encourage students to visit Syracuse Universitys resource
All of Us Are Related, Each of Us Is Unique, an exhibition
designed to contribute to contemporary discourse on
human diversity. It is a graphic presentation of biological
findings rooted in genetics research that includes striking
displays of phenotypic variations and evidence on human
migrations and adaptations, while showing how erroneous
conventional wisdom has been with respect to the deeply
ingrained concept of discrete "races."

Students can learn more about the science, social, and

historical aspects of race and how people are classified by
visiting the online companion to the popular PBS
documentary series, Race: The Power of an Illusion.

Students may enjoy learning about human evolution by

visiting the Becoming Human website. The site content
includes a broadband documentary (organized by
evidence, anatomy, lineages, and culture), related
educational interactivities, lesson plans, resources, and
current news and features.