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But some people think that just popping a vitamin D pill gives you all the benefits of sun exposure without the downsides. Research on all cause mortality disa

by klipt 2y ago

But some people think that just popping a vitamin D pill gives you all the benefits of sun exposure without the downsides. Research on all cause mortality disagrees. Some sun exposure reduces all cause mortality even if you already take vitamin D.

Aerroon 2y ago
But what doses did they take in the research? Vitamin D RDA has been increased by like 5-10x recently in some countries (others are still lagging behind), because the RDA that we've used for decades had a calculation error. If the studies dosed vitamin D based on recommendations then it shouldn't be surprising that supplementing vitamin D didn't work. Considering that only a few countries have updated their vitamin D RDA in the past few years, and most haven't, then I think it's likely that most studies on the topic will have too low of a dose of vitamin D supplementation. The vitamin D error: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4210929/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4210929/ --- It's also possible that some of the health benefits don't come from vitamin D or UV exposure, but instead from something like red light exposure or some other wavelength. (Red) light therapy is a popular topic for example. It's mostly touted to improve skin aging and it's being studied as a help with myopia in children. Does it work? No idea.
- t0bia_s 2y ago
  Vitamines cannot be patented by pharmaceutical firms. So their supplements could be made by anyone. Also having vitamine D deficit makes you potential customer of all kind alternatives made by pharma because of your weak immunity. Agenda against vitamine D is strong and make me sceptical everytime I hear about danger of sun exposing or how vitamine D is not working.
jdietrich 2y ago
>Research on all cause mortality disagrees. Some sun exposure reduces all cause mortality even if you already take vitamin D. Some sun exposure is correlated with lower all-cause mortality. That is a very long way from establishing causation, particularly considering all of the other plausible explanations for that correlation.
cube2222 2y ago
I wonder if it’s just correlation, with the actual cause of both being physical activity. Physical activity likely makes you go out into the sun more, and it also likely reduces mortality. Would be great if you provided a source so we could check whether they controlled for physical activity.
- maeil 2y ago
  One of the things I love most about HN - you think of a hypothesis, and right after you see someone else who has already posted it. Very curious about this one as well. Though I don't imagine it being the "actual cause", just a big cofactor. I'd still put some money on the direct effect of sunlight absorption by your skin in itself having additional positive benefits (in appropriate doses).
addicted 2y ago
I would be very surprised if the research you’re pointing to suggests causation. I’m not saying causation doesn’t exist. But the reason why this issue is hard to resolve is precisely because causation one way or another is hard to establish. Causation for specific effects of Sun exposure is much easier to establish (for example skin cancer due to exposure, or lower depression due to exposure).
reducesuffering 2y ago
> some people think that just popping a vitamin D pill gives you all the benefits of sun exposure without the downsides. No one with any cursory research would still think that. Nitric Oxide benefits have been known for awhile. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6830553/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6830553/
mcguire 2y ago
How do you control for sun exposure versus outdoor physical activity and any of the other factors?

by klipt 2y ago

Aerroon 2y ago

But what doses did they take in the research? Vitamin D RDA has been increased by like 5-10x recently in some countries (others are still lagging behind), because the RDA that we've used for decades had a calculation error. If the studies dosed vitamin D based on recommendations then it shouldn't be surprising that supplementing vitamin D didn't work. Considering that only a few countries have updated their vitamin D RDA in the past few years, and most haven't, then I think it's likely that most studies on the topic will have too low of a dose of vitamin D supplementation. The vitamin D error: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4210929/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4210929/ --- It's also possible that some of the health benefits don't come from vitamin D or UV exposure, but instead from something like red light exposure or some other wavelength. (Red) light therapy is a popular topic for example. It's mostly touted to improve skin aging and it's being studied as a help with myopia in children. Does it work? No idea.

t0bia_s 2y ago
Vitamines cannot be patented by pharmaceutical firms. So their supplements could be made by anyone. Also having vitamine D deficit makes you potential customer of all kind alternatives made by pharma because of your weak immunity. Agenda against vitamine D is strong and make me sceptical everytime I hear about danger of sun exposing or how vitamine D is not working.

jdietrich 2y ago

>Research on all cause mortality disagrees. Some sun exposure reduces all cause mortality even if you already take vitamin D. Some sun exposure is correlated with lower all-cause mortality. That is a very long way from establishing causation, particularly considering all of the other plausible explanations for that correlation.

cube2222 2y ago

I wonder if it’s just correlation, with the actual cause of both being physical activity. Physical activity likely makes you go out into the sun more, and it also likely reduces mortality. Would be great if you provided a source so we could check whether they controlled for physical activity.

maeil 2y ago
One of the things I love most about HN - you think of a hypothesis, and right after you see someone else who has already posted it. Very curious about this one as well. Though I don't imagine it being the "actual cause", just a big cofactor. I'd still put some money on the direct effect of sunlight absorption by your skin in itself having additional positive benefits (in appropriate doses).

addicted 2y ago

I would be very surprised if the research you’re pointing to suggests causation. I’m not saying causation doesn’t exist. But the reason why this issue is hard to resolve is precisely because causation one way or another is hard to establish. Causation for specific effects of Sun exposure is much easier to establish (for example skin cancer due to exposure, or lower depression due to exposure).

reducesuffering 2y ago

> some people think that just popping a vitamin D pill gives you all the benefits of sun exposure without the downsides. No one with any cursory research would still think that. Nitric Oxide benefits have been known for awhile. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6830553/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6830553/

mcguire 2y ago

How do you control for sun exposure versus outdoor physical activity and any of the other factors?