SUNSHINE AND VITAMIN D: THE SCIENTIFIC TRUTH

This presentation describes the remarkable new clinical discoveries being made concerning Vitamin D, and the vitamin's importance for good health.

Sunshine is an effective natural provider of Vitamin D that is now being reconsidered.

As a leading UK newspaper recently reported (Dec. 2010):
"Experts have overturned decades of advice by urging people to go out in the midday sun without sunblock."
(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8207101/Sunbathing-can-be-good-f...)

Sun exposure triggers the release of serotonin (which lifts mood), beta-endorphins (which yield pleasurable feelings), and dopamine
(associated with the reward system in the brain).
So, it is reasonable to ask:
Why would the body be rewarding you for doing something harmful?

Our modern ways of living have had severe consequences.

In prehistory, the nearer you lived to the equator, the darker you were.
It is believed that the principal reason we developed different skin colors was so that, as man migrated from Africa, the correct amount of vitamin D would be maintained in the body.
("Northern populations experienced positive selection for lighter skin due to the increased production of vitamin D from sunlight and the genes for darker skin disappeared from these populations." Wikipedia/ Skin Color)

If so, this tell us that having the correct level of vitamin D level in the body must be vitally important.

Bear in mind that it is only in the last two centuries that we stopped living outdoors.
For example, consider the following:
Percentage of the U.S. workforce employed in farming:
1790: 90% (est.)
1890: 43%
1990: 3%

So, after living with exposure to direct sunlight for 100,000 generations, over a mere 10 generations we have moved almost entirely indoors.

The damage caused by vitamin D deficiency is not being noticed, precisely because everyone is vitamin D deficient.
Fifty years ago, it was actually quite hard to observe a connection between smoking and lung cancer because while the people who got lung cancer were smokers, the people who didn't get lung cancer were also smokers - because everyone smoked. A similar pattern is present now with vitamin D deficiency, but the scientific evidence as to the importance of vitamin D is clear.
And, given that importance, should we be surprised our bodies are malfunctioning?

As the Australian poet Banjo Patterson wrote:

"...I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy
Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall,
And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city
Through the open window floating, spreads its foulness over all.

And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle
Of the tramways and the buses making hurry down the street,
And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting,
Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet.

And the hurrying people daunt me, and their pallid faces haunt me
As they shoulder one another in their rush and nervous haste,
With their eager eyes and greedy, and their stunted forms and weedy,
For townsfolk have no time to grow, they have no time to waste..."


If you consider carefully, is it really likely that, after millions of years of sun exposure, our bodies can't cope with sunshine?

And, to be blunt, how many deaths and chronic illnesses would have been avoided if we had been in the sun?

Computer modeling by UC San Diego has indicated that, if people had vitamin D levels above just 40ng/ml, for just two major cancers alone, over 100,000 new cases of those cancers would be prevented annually worldwide. Multiply those 100,000 people by three decades, and for all the cancers and conditions in which vitamin D is protective, and you get a very big number.

As with smoking, the health consequences of vitamin D deficiency are not visible, and have a long time-lag, but they are dreadful. As an Indian doctor noted last month, (after a study in which, out of more than 1,000 Mumbai residents tested, only thirty or so were found to have levels above 40ng/ml), this is taking a huge toll silently.

There is some emerging public awareness of the importance of vitamin D, e.g.: http://shineonscotland.org.uk/
but public health policy is two decades behind the science.

You need to consider the new evidence about vitamin D.

My advice is that you go enjoy the sun and feel great. I think it's good advice. Your body will age more slowly,...
http://www.twinsuk.ac.uk/pressr1107.html
and your chances of dying will be lower.
e.g., http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/167/16/1730

In the end, though, you may say: "That's not good enough. I'm going to stick with what the dermatologists say. Being as pale as a ghost is part of a healthy lifestyle." It's up to you.


The two links mentioned:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emjCzaHtSrg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PsyaYNX1dw

Category:

Education

Tags:

• vitamin
• sunshine
• deficiency
• levels
• low
• sun
• sunlight
• supplement
• health
• cancer
• prevention
• bone
• osteoporosis
• metabolism
• nutrition
• preventative
• autoimmune
• diabetes
• healthy
• natural
• EBV
• MS
• rickets
• d3

[hodmandod]

… by those proclaiming that all exposure of our skin to the sun is a form of self-harm. The unfortunate result of venturing out of doors only when the sun is at its weakest, or we are suitably screened from its rays, is well documented in this presentation. I recommend following some of the links provided, absorbing the information to be found there, and spreading the word that the sun is not the villain it has been made out to be, but our potential saviour.

[windart2010]

@hodmandod Thank you for commenting. We know with great certainty that for millions of years our bodies unwaveringly had high levels of vitamin D. Although medically we know with hardly any certainty at all how that vitamin D is used, it is already clear that for a person to be without it is to substantially raise his/her chances of both early death and chronic disease. In decades to come, the decision to advocate sun avoidance will rightly be regarded as having been a public health disaster.

[windart2010]

@Rafedile Thank you for mentioning skin cancer. The deadly type is melanoma (1 in 20 skin cancers). However, the sun-melanoma link is very unclear. How near you live to the equator does not predict risk. Melanoma is most common in office workers. Outdoor people (e.g., farmers) have reduced risk. Where melanomas occur on the body doesn’t match with the sites that have the highest sun exposure. It is very difficult to create melanoma in the lab. with UV. And high vit. D levels protect against it.

[Rafedile]

@windart2010

And most of the japanese population do not take vitamin D supplements. I get very little sun, but get plenty of vitamin D from foods and supplementation. I can guarantee that my overall health far exceeds the average sun bather or frequent tanner, even if their vitamin D concentration is "slightly" higher than myn, which I would bet is not even the case for most tanners. The science does not lie. UV radiation causes Thymine Dimers to form, causing many cells to mutate (cancer)

[windart2010]

@Rafedile Thank you very much for your comment. Yes, vitamin D supplementation works, and is generally the only realistic solution for people living far from the equator. Nevertheless, in Japan, too, as all around the world, the less sunlight you receive, the higher is your risk of major cancers. The youtube video “Vitamin D: Diabetes and Colon Cancer in Japanese Population” (from 2.58 onwards) describes this.

[Rafedile]

@hodmandod

Take a vitamin D supplement or multivitamin....Vuala, problem solved. And you can avoid the negative effects of UVA radiation. This concept seems above most American's intellectually capabilities. There is a reason the Japanese have the longest lifespan, and its not just because they eat a lot of fish. Its their ENTIRE lifestyle, and they are deathly afraid of the suns rays. And for good reason.

[hodmandod]

This presentation deserves a wide audience. The story it tells is disarmingly simple. We are suffering from, and dying sooner and more frequently as a result of, myriad diseases, because we deliberately shield ourselves from the one thing that could help save us - the sun! As twenty first century humans, working and socialising largely indoors, our Vitamin D levels are historically low. Their augmentation depends on our outdoor, recreational habits, which, sadly, are increasingly influenced ...

[windart2010]

@putrenco Thank you for your comments. Veo que usted es Chileno. La música es una milonga.

[putrenco]

Very educational and interestingly got across (if that makes sense)....the music is amazing.....that aside, this has to be some of the most important news today considering that only 1% of the US population has 60ng/ml - I cannot imagine at what level the UK population is at - GET OUT INTO THE SUN AND ENJOY - dont put any of that nasty cream they sell everywhere, let your skin breathe at least for 15 mins at midday.....................