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Also, Vitamin D is just one particular aspect our bodies depend on the sun. You also need sun exposition to improve the immune system, avoid depression and inso

Also, Vitamin D is just one particular aspect our bodies depend on the sun. You also need sun exposition to improve the immune system, avoid depression and insomnia. Not to mention all the other biochemical processes and health benefits we still might not know. The obvious fact is that we evolved to live under at least some sun exposition (depending on your genetic background), trying to replace that entirely with pills is backwards.

MDS100 14y ago
The above Factors are mostly regarding Vitamin D production or exposure onto your retinas. Nobody is claiming you need to replace it entirely. The right strategy depends on the context and esp. at which ends of the normal distribution curve you are (regarding sun exposure). It's very seductive to argue from an evolutionary advantage perspective. It can be used to generate Hypotheses that need testing. But one shouldn't give health advice based on it. After all we brush teeth, wear clothes and benefit massively from machines and modern medicine.
- dasil003 14y ago
  > It's very seductive to argue from an evolutionary advantage perspective. It can be used to generate Hypotheses that need testing. But one shouldn't give health advice based on it. After all we brush teeth, wear clothes and benefit massively from machines and modern medicine. It's about sane defaults. The effort to validate every reasonable hypothesis is extraordinary, and sometimes impossible. We can't afford to live our lives based only on what conclusions science has been able to come to so far. Making some choices based on ancestral norms is perfectly acceptable and better than many alternatives.
  - MDS100 14y ago
    Doesn't seam to be such a good heuristic, honestly. Why not look first at what seem to work for (a large sample of) other people? Then you don't have to follow that complicated evolutionary logic style thinking. (I know it's very trendy right not) In the end Nature isn't smart and can't think.

MDS100 14y ago

The above Factors are mostly regarding Vitamin D production or exposure onto your retinas. Nobody is claiming you need to replace it entirely. The right strategy depends on the context and esp. at which ends of the normal distribution curve you are (regarding sun exposure). It's very seductive to argue from an evolutionary advantage perspective. It can be used to generate Hypotheses that need testing. But one shouldn't give health advice based on it. After all we brush teeth, wear clothes and benefit massively from machines and modern medicine.

dasil003 14y ago
> It's very seductive to argue from an evolutionary advantage perspective. It can be used to generate Hypotheses that need testing. But one shouldn't give health advice based on it. After all we brush teeth, wear clothes and benefit massively from machines and modern medicine. It's about sane defaults. The effort to validate every reasonable hypothesis is extraordinary, and sometimes impossible. We can't afford to live our lives based only on what conclusions science has been able to come to so far. Making some choices based on ancestral norms is perfectly acceptable and better than many alternatives.
- MDS100 14y ago
  Doesn't seam to be such a good heuristic, honestly. Why not look first at what seem to work for (a large sample of) other people? Then you don't have to follow that complicated evolutionary logic style thinking. (I know it's very trendy right not) In the end Nature isn't smart and can't think.