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Vitamin D3 During Pregnancy and Cognitive Performance at 10 Years

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Re: Vitamin D3 During Pregnancy and Cognitive Performance at 10 Years

#21

Post by api »

pkoird wrote: post #2

I'm not sure if there are any research showcasing the effects humanity has had in general due to low sun exposure. From all the benefits of Vitamin D and the recent human behavorial shift leading to low sun exposure (car travel, air conditioning, sunscreens even), there are bound to be new biological or psychological changes humanity is experiencing for the first time.

I've wondered for a while if the apparently higher cognitive performance and resulting societal wealth at higher latitudes might be some kind of second order side effect from long-term selection for lower sun exposure. We already know this vitamin D is almost certainly why Northern peoples evolved lighter skin.

(I realize this is a frought topic, so please hold the race science bullcrap replies or the over-reactions in the other direction. I am not a believer in hard biological determinism or "race science," but I also don't dismiss the existence of variations. As with everything else in population genetics and biology, any variations that do exist probably have more than one cause.)

If there's any truth to this, it might be further compounded as people with darker skin spend more time indoors in the modern world. If you have darker skin you need, as far as I know, more sun to make vitamin D, which normally is not a problem if you're outdoors near the equator. Maybe darker skinned people need to be taking more D supplements.

Re: Vitamin D3 During Pregnancy and Cognitive Performance at 10 Years

#22

Post by throwaway743 »

daniel_c_code wrote: post #4

This is exactly what I've been thinking about lately. The modern knowledge-worker lifestyle is practically an experiment in extreme sun deprivation. We optimize our indoor spaces with perfect AC, ergonomic setups, and even custom ambient noise apps just to stay locked in a room for 10 hours a day doing deep work. It makes you wonder how much of what we accept as "normal" afternoon brain fog or tech burnout is actuall…

Totally! iirc Germany implemented laws requiring sunlight exposure within offices so workers aren't deprived of it.

Re: Vitamin D3 During Pregnancy and Cognitive Performance at 10 Years

#23

Post by niteshpant »

I have thoughts on this

1. Yes, vitamin D actually controls a lot of bodily functions it’s very easily set aside as not a “main” factor when in reality it actually controls a lot

2. This study was done on women in Denmark only which isn’t a great study subject considering Denmark doesn’t get a lot of sun to begin with so most of these women would already start at very low levels

3. This doesn’t directly correlate to women of color because WOC need higher dosage of vitamin D than white women do. The general range of “good” level of vitamin D that doctors tend to use is related to studies results gotten from white people when in reality brown and black people need way more for their range to be at a normal place.

Re: Vitamin D3 During Pregnancy and Cognitive Performance at 10 Years

#24

Post by tarkin2 »

I'm perhaps missing something but if there were a significant connection, wouldn't this mean those in sunnier climates would have better verbal and visual memory?

If there were a connection then I would wager that there are more significant factors, since I have seen or heard of no evidence to assume those in sunnier climates have better verbal and visual memory.

The results of this study seem to show no significant correlation, anyhow.

Re: Vitamin D3 During Pregnancy and Cognitive Performance at 10 Years

#25

Post by shiandow »

Based on how many tests they did and the confidence intervals they got it's associated with fuck all. Doing lots of tests and then pointing to the few where the lower bound of the effect size was marginally above 0 proves very little.

At any rate their main marker for intelligence showed an impressive p=90%, so whatever cognitive effects were present they've not made them any smarter (at 10).

Re: Vitamin D3 During Pregnancy and Cognitive Performance at 10 Years

#26

Post by therein »

pkoird wrote: post #2

I'm not sure if there are any research showcasing the effects humanity has had in general due to low sun exposure. From all the benefits of Vitamin D and the recent human behavorial shift leading to low sun exposure (car travel, air conditioning, sunscreens even), there are bound to be new biological or psychological changes humanity is experiencing for the first time.

>car travel, air conditioning, sunscreens even

And even clothing.

Re: Vitamin D3 During Pregnancy and Cognitive Performance at 10 Years

#28

Post by kloop »

niteshpant wrote: post #23

I have thoughts on this 1. Yes, vitamin D actually controls a lot of bodily functions it’s very easily set aside as not a “main” factor when in reality it actually controls a lot 2. This study was done on women in Denmark only which isn’t a great study subject considering Denmark doesn’t get a lot of sun to begin with so most of these women would already start at very low levels 3. This doesn’t directly correlate to…

Do they need more vitamin D? I thought they just needed more sun to get the same vitamin D

Re: Vitamin D3 During Pregnancy and Cognitive Performance at 10 Years

#29

Post by logicchains »

pkoird wrote: post #2

I'm not sure if there are any research showcasing the effects humanity has had in general due to low sun exposure. From all the benefits of Vitamin D and the recent human behavorial shift leading to low sun exposure (car travel, air conditioning, sunscreens even), there are bound to be new biological or psychological changes humanity is experiencing for the first time.

One study found a difference in mortality between the max-sun-exposure and min-sun-exposure cohorts: the second was twofold higher, which is comparable to the effect of cigarette smoking. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24697969/ . I.e. avoiding sun exposure completely is as harmful as smoking cigarettes.

Re: Vitamin D3 During Pregnancy and Cognitive Performance at 10 Years

#30

Post by scythe »

I guess I don't understand why this study is suddenly getting attention when these kinds of trials have been going on for years. This one doesn't seem to have a particularly strong methodology or particularly unusual findings. It's just another page in a very, very long record of evidence about vitamin D, and by no means settles any major controversy.
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