Evolution of Human Skin Pigment

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Evolution of Human Skin Pigment
Have you ever wondered how and why people are different colors? This paper discusses the evolutionary theories behind diversity in human skin pigment. Though previous theories hypothesized that darker skin evolved in order to protect people from sunburn and skin cancer, the prominent theory today relates to folate protection and vitamin D production.
The prominent theory today about how and why skin pigment in humans developed with the color diversity that exists today, is that ancestral populations of humans inhabited areas with different UV radiation concentration. As a result, the effects of UV radiation put positive evolutionary pressure on skin pigment to develop for sufficient folate protection and Vitamin D production. For a long time, paleontologists have known that human ancestors had dense hair that covered their bodies. The reason that modern humans lack such covering is probably due to changes in climate and habitation choice, but for whatever reason the dense hair covering disappeared, it ultimately did, rendering the skin much more exposed to both the elements and to UV rays. Scientists believe that in response to this change in UV concentrations, the human skin became tougher, and developed a protective pigment called ‘melanin’ which protects against the effects of UV radiation.
Using Darwin’s theory of evolution via natural selection, it is reasonable to say that individuals with skin best suited to their environment would have survived and successfully reproduced. In this way, the best genes and adaptations for the surrounding environment would spread, and ultimately exist in all--or nearly all--individuals in a population and/or region. A previous theory that skin pigment dive...

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...s in his article on how vitamin D affected the evolution of skin pigment, “pheomelanin produces vitamin D efficiently, [and] its reaction with high levels of UVB….makes dangerous free radicals — which damage skin cells over time” (ScienceWriters). Furthermore, “failing to produce adequate levels of Vitamin D can cause physical deformities, including painful distension of the pelvic bones in women — and severe complications during childbirth (ScienceWriters).
Because of the necessity of folate protection and simultaneously the need to maintain sufficient vitamin D levels, it makes sense that people inhabiting areas of low or high UV radiation would consequently have lighter or darker skin. The evidence for skin pigment evolution in response to concentrations of UV radiation is therefore the most reasonable explanation for current pigment variations in people today.

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