4 ms·

The rationale is quite simple. The body needs sunlight to produce the vitamin. Without adequate sunlight there will be a deficiency and need of a substitute. Th

by zxcb1 9y ago

The rationale is quite simple. The body needs sunlight to produce the vitamin. Without adequate sunlight there will be a deficiency and need of a substitute. The supplements aren’t magic, its the removal of systemic health effects caused by deficiency. I rather find that the studies deal with how severe these effects are and the systemic nature makes it hard to pin point. However, I don’t even understand why this has been contested for such a long time.

bostik 9y ago
Maybe because it's politically unhealthy (excuse the pun) to point out that the country you live in is too far away from the equatorial regions and its geographical location itself is a source of chronic health issues? As a Finn, I have found that the natives really don't want to hear that most of the country is on the same latitudes as Alaska.
- dageshi 9y ago
  More a case of it's a bit pointless to make an issue of it? It's not like everyone is just going to pickup and move elsewhere is it?
  - Sharlin 9y ago
    Most people don’t realize that the sunlight levels here aren’t sufficient to trigger vitamin D (precursor) synthesis except during noon and early afternoon hours in the middle of the summer. And of course only if it’s not cloudy. It is likely that most people at these latitudes don’t synthesize enough vitamin D even during the summer months.
  - bostik 9y ago
    Well, being aware of a health problem is the first step of being able to address it. If the environment is making you sick, shouldn't you at least know about it? As for your question, well... <snark value="11">I did.</snark> Wonderful ice breaker in pubs, btw. "I moved to London for the weather."
sigi45 9y ago
Is it? I don't think so. 'The body needs sunlight to produce the vitamin' okay. But now i say: '15 Minutes of sunlight a day is enough for your body'. What now? Where is your study saying how much sunlight is relevant? And if it makes sense to supplement? And what are the dangners of too much?
- leg100 9y ago
  You can carry out your own study. Stand outside in the sun for a while. Did you get sunburnt? Ok, that's too long, and the danger of that is skin cancer.
  - nugi 9y ago
    Apparently skin cancer risk from sunburn only appreciably increases when a child. As an adult, your risk is far less affected by exposure. A light tan is good, heavy sun for years will leave you looking like a florida leatherback. In all things, moderation.
    - ddeck 9y ago
      Sunburns and risk of cutaneous melanoma, does age matter: a comprehensive meta-analysis https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2873840/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2873840/ After reviewing over 1300 article titles and evaluating 270 articles in detail, we pooled ORs from 51 independent study populations for “ever” sunburned and risk of cutaneous melanoma. Among these, 26 studies reported results from dose-response analyses. Dose-response analyses were examined using both fixed-effects models and Bayesian random-effects models. Results: An increased risk of melanoma was seen with increasing number of sunburns for all time-periods (childhood, adolescence, adulthood and lifetime). In an attempt to understand how risk between life-periods compares, we also report these same linear models on a scale of 5 sunburns per decade for each life-period. The magnitude of risk for 5 sunburns per decade is highest for adult and lifetime sunburns. Conclusions: Overall, these results show an increased risk of melanoma with increasing number of sunburns during all life-periods, not just childhood. Prevention efforts should focus on reducing sunburns during all life-periods.
fyfy18 9y ago
How did societies in northern regions historically get enough vitamin D? Yes they would have spend more time outdoors than we do now, but they’d also be mostly covered to keep themselves warm, so even on a rare day when it’s sunny they wouldn’t get much exposure.
- pandaman5588 9y ago
  They ate a lot of fish, at least in northern Europe
- mtgx 9y ago
  Even before, likely everyone was deficient in Vitamin D during winter. You "charge up" in the summer, but then you start dropping below the beneficial levels long before the sunny spring starts again. It's part of the reason people get sicker in the winter, feel more "blue", and so on.
- kolbe 9y ago
  The way I understand it, if you're pale enough, there's more than enough sunshine in a dreary UK winter to get enough exposure. The problem is much more related to how we don't take advantage of it as a culture. Odds are, that the day on which you should be outside soaking in some rays is going to be a day that you cannot leave your office for more than a lunch.
mtgx 9y ago
According to the study in the other HN link here, they made an error in calculating how much Vitamin D you need. The medical community also seems to think that 20 ng/ml is when the deficiency starts, when in reality it's more like 40. Some studies have shown that you can see benefits upwards of 60 ng/ml. Other research has shown that Vitamin D helps with sleep in the 60-80 ng/ml range. I've seen many people on Reddit say that their blood tests level came out at 5-10. That's crazy. Get your 25(OH)D level checked. Some of the studies that have shown "no improvement" from Vitamin D saw that result mainly because they were still prescribing far too little Vitamin D (yet still higher than the RDA). 10,000 IU may be necessary just to maintain your level. However, you also have to keep in mind that you won't be getting D only from the supplement, so throughout the year you should actually increase your Vitamin D level as you get more sun exposure. Meanwhile the 10,000 IU (which by the way is "only" 250 micrograms) will maintain those high levels. Then, in the second year, you may further increase your Vitamin D level as you once again get more exposure in the sunny days. So you should check your Vitamin D at least after a year, to ensure your levels aren't too high. After you're stabilized you should need around 5,000-7000 IU, but it's really dependent on each person's needs, so you'll have to figure out on your own through trial and error. However, you also need to keep in mind that not everyone uses Vitamin D as efficiently. You may have undiscovered gallbladder issues for instance, or your gut bacteria is not well balanced, or your stomach doesn't have enough acid, or you're not taking Vitamin D with enough fat, and all of these factors which could impact how easily you're absorbing Vitamin D. This is part of the reason why the FDA can't just recommend "everyone should take 10,000 IU". Plus, people of color need much more Vitamin D, so if the FDA recommends everyone 2,000 IU as a higher minimum, that may still not be enough for them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3pK0dccQ38&feature=youtu.be&t=5m33s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3pK0dccQ38&feature=youtu.be... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF24xmJQK1k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF24xmJQK1k https://www.foundmyfitness.com/vitamin-d https://www.foundmyfitness.com/vitamin-d https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/i-tested-my-vitamin-d-level-what-do-my-results-mean/ https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/i-tested-my-vitamin-d-level-... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5541280/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5541280/

by zxcb1 9y ago

bostik 9y ago

Maybe because it's politically unhealthy (excuse the pun) to point out that the country you live in is too far away from the equatorial regions and its geographical location itself is a source of chronic health issues? As a Finn, I have found that the natives really don't want to hear that most of the country is on the same latitudes as Alaska.

dageshi 9y ago
More a case of it's a bit pointless to make an issue of it? It's not like everyone is just going to pickup and move elsewhere is it?
- Sharlin 9y ago
  Most people don’t realize that the sunlight levels here aren’t sufficient to trigger vitamin D (precursor) synthesis except during noon and early afternoon hours in the middle of the summer. And of course only if it’s not cloudy. It is likely that most people at these latitudes don’t synthesize enough vitamin D even during the summer months.
- bostik 9y ago
  Well, being aware of a health problem is the first step of being able to address it. If the environment is making you sick, shouldn't you at least know about it? As for your question, well... <snark value="11">I did.</snark> Wonderful ice breaker in pubs, btw. "I moved to London for the weather."

sigi45 9y ago

Is it? I don't think so. 'The body needs sunlight to produce the vitamin' okay. But now i say: '15 Minutes of sunlight a day is enough for your body'. What now? Where is your study saying how much sunlight is relevant? And if it makes sense to supplement? And what are the dangners of too much?

leg100 9y ago
You can carry out your own study. Stand outside in the sun for a while. Did you get sunburnt? Ok, that's too long, and the danger of that is skin cancer.
- nugi 9y ago
  Apparently skin cancer risk from sunburn only appreciably increases when a child. As an adult, your risk is far less affected by exposure. A light tan is good, heavy sun for years will leave you looking like a florida leatherback. In all things, moderation.
  - ddeck 9y ago
    Sunburns and risk of cutaneous melanoma, does age matter: a comprehensive meta-analysis https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2873840/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2873840/ After reviewing over 1300 article titles and evaluating 270 articles in detail, we pooled ORs from 51 independent study populations for “ever” sunburned and risk of cutaneous melanoma. Among these, 26 studies reported results from dose-response analyses. Dose-response analyses were examined using both fixed-effects models and Bayesian random-effects models. Results: An increased risk of melanoma was seen with increasing number of sunburns for all time-periods (childhood, adolescence, adulthood and lifetime). In an attempt to understand how risk between life-periods compares, we also report these same linear models on a scale of 5 sunburns per decade for each life-period. The magnitude of risk for 5 sunburns per decade is highest for adult and lifetime sunburns. Conclusions: Overall, these results show an increased risk of melanoma with increasing number of sunburns during all life-periods, not just childhood. Prevention efforts should focus on reducing sunburns during all life-periods.

fyfy18 9y ago

How did societies in northern regions historically get enough vitamin D? Yes they would have spend more time outdoors than we do now, but they’d also be mostly covered to keep themselves warm, so even on a rare day when it’s sunny they wouldn’t get much exposure.

pandaman5588 9y ago
They ate a lot of fish, at least in northern Europe
mtgx 9y ago
Even before, likely everyone was deficient in Vitamin D during winter. You "charge up" in the summer, but then you start dropping below the beneficial levels long before the sunny spring starts again. It's part of the reason people get sicker in the winter, feel more "blue", and so on.
kolbe 9y ago
The way I understand it, if you're pale enough, there's more than enough sunshine in a dreary UK winter to get enough exposure. The problem is much more related to how we don't take advantage of it as a culture. Odds are, that the day on which you should be outside soaking in some rays is going to be a day that you cannot leave your office for more than a lunch.

mtgx 9y ago

According to the study in the other HN link here, they made an error in calculating how much Vitamin D you need. The medical community also seems to think that 20 ng/ml is when the deficiency starts, when in reality it's more like 40. Some studies have shown that you can see benefits upwards of 60 ng/ml. Other research has shown that Vitamin D helps with sleep in the 60-80 ng/ml range. I've seen many people on Reddit say that their blood tests level came out at 5-10. That's crazy. Get your 25(OH)D level checked. Some of the studies that have shown "no improvement" from Vitamin D saw that result mainly because they were still prescribing far too little Vitamin D (yet still higher than the RDA). 10,000 IU may be necessary just to maintain your level. However, you also have to keep in mind that you won't be getting D only from the supplement, so throughout the year you should actually increase your Vitamin D level as you get more sun exposure. Meanwhile the 10,000 IU (which by the way is "only" 250 micrograms) will maintain those high levels. Then, in the second year, you may further increase your Vitamin D level as you once again get more exposure in the sunny days. So you should check your Vitamin D at least after a year, to ensure your levels aren't too high. After you're stabilized you should need around 5,000-7000 IU, but it's really dependent on each person's needs, so you'll have to figure out on your own through trial and error. However, you also need to keep in mind that not everyone uses Vitamin D as efficiently. You may have undiscovered gallbladder issues for instance, or your gut bacteria is not well balanced, or your stomach doesn't have enough acid, or you're not taking Vitamin D with enough fat, and all of these factors which could impact how easily you're absorbing Vitamin D. This is part of the reason why the FDA can't just recommend "everyone should take 10,000 IU". Plus, people of color need much more Vitamin D, so if the FDA recommends everyone 2,000 IU as a higher minimum, that may still not be enough for them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3pK0dccQ38&feature=youtu.be&t=5m33s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3pK0dccQ38&feature=youtu.be... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF24xmJQK1k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF24xmJQK1k https://www.foundmyfitness.com/vitamin-d https://www.foundmyfitness.com/vitamin-d https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/i-tested-my-vitamin-d-level-what-do-my-results-mean/ https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/i-tested-my-vitamin-d-level-... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5541280/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5541280/