Why do Europeans have such different skin colors?

“The most obvious functional advantage of lighter skin pigmentation in northerly latitudes is that it facilitates the synthesis of vitamin D3 in spite of low levels of ultraviolet radiation exposure,” the researchers explained. But the high variations in eye and hair color among Europeans goes even further.

Why do Europeans have light skin and dark hair?

Skin and hair tends to be darker in races evolved near the equator, enhancing the idea that human pigmentation is linked with the defense against sun’s radiation. Not only Europeans, but many northern Asian types have lighter skin than the southern groups.

What kind of hair and eyes do Europeans have?

Europeans are a big exception: their hair is black but also brown, flaxen, golden, or red; their eyes are brown but also blue, gray, hazel, or green. This diversity reaches a maximum in an area centered on the East Baltic and covering northern and eastern Europe.

Why are some Europeans lighter in color?

The researchers then followed up with an additional 2,718 Icelanders and a group of 1,214 Dutch people. From all of this, the researchers identified six DNA regions that were important for making Europeans lighter in color. The 300,000 differences sounds like a lot of but it is a small part our DNA.

Where did skin pigmentation come from?

And the story of skin pigmentation is complex. She writes: [T]he new data confirm that about 8500 years ago, early hunter-gatherers in Spain, Luxembourg, and Hungary also had darker skin: They lacked versions of two genes—SLC24A5 and SLC45A2—that lead to depigmentation and, therefore, pale skin in Europeans today.

Is skin color influenced by the alleles for hair color?

Yet skin color is weakly influenced by the different alleles for hair color or eye color apart from the ones for red hair or blue eyes. Some have no effect at all on skin pigmentation.