I was told that there are lots of latitudes in North America where the sun is at too low an angle for your skin to make vitamin D for large parts of the year so you should take it during those times and then you should be fine during the summer if you get outside enough.
The worthlessness of Vitamin D is mildly exaggerated
121–130 of 308 posts
Re: The worthlessness of Vitamin D is mildly exaggerated
#122In case the author is here, you can find the Garland & Garland (1980) article on sci-hub. And if link is allowed https://sci-hub.ru/https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/9.3.227
I expect the author is aware of that: where do you think he got the graph from if there's only 'gated copies'? But Sci-Hub links are unstable even if you don't mind linking them.
Re: The worthlessness of Vitamin D is mildly exaggerated
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to mention, northern latitudes get more sun that average in summer, and most northern countries have more reasonable working hours so people actually do go outside.
More hours of sun, but it's less intense.
Sure but i hide a lot more from the intense sun in spain then i do for the softer sun in sweden. In general i think it balances out quite well.
Re: The worthlessness of Vitamin D is mildly exaggerated
#124Medical doctor here. Please don't get health advice from hn comments. As a matter of fact, I advice against reading anything about health on hn, as the risks of dangerous misinformation far outweigh any useful information you might learn here.
Principal Armchair Commander here. I second this. That said I also avoid health advice from professionals. I have too often found their incentives to be in conflict with my well being. I just do my own research and ignore everyone, especially AI.
Re: The worthlessness of Vitamin D is mildly exaggerated
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
To save people the click: the study says that the recommended vitamin D intake is much too low.
Honestly you don't even need to know the recommended number. In many countries you can get tested for free, and if that's not the case for you, getting tested usually costs in the ballpark of a box vitamin D supplements. Measure and only then supplement, then measure again later. You don't need to fly blind.
A year's worth of daily 5000 IU (125 mcg) Vitamin D supplements costs approximately $15, so you could also just supplement.
Re: The worthlessness of Vitamin D is mildly exaggerated
#126This is a refreshingly balanced and honest analysis of Vitamin D studies. The strongest evidence for Vitamin D is in people who are severely deficient. Bumping up to a normal range can provide some improvements. The health influencers started noticing that the Vitamin D studies coming out weren't matching their original hype for Vitamin D, so many pivoted to trying to make claims that most people are severely deficie…
It's pretty safe to assume all hyped supplements are pointless. Being generally active and eating fruits/vegetables is like 80% of the work for being healthy.
> almost everyone is Vitamin D deficient
This was the red flag that made me realize it was BS early on. If everyone is deficient, then it must not be that important.
Re: The worthlessness of Vitamin D is mildly exaggerated
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
As the article mentions, we pretty much don't see improvements with supplementation.
I don’t think there’s anything definitive. 400IU/day from one study is nothing if you’re deficient. 2000IU from another study is better, but even then we don’t seem to know much about absorption from these studies. For example, did it actually raise serum levels by 10ng/ml after a year, and how did THAT correlate to positive or negative health outcomes? K2 also seems to play an important symbiotic relationship with D…
if supplements don't absorb and therefore don't affect health, there's no reason to take them.
Re: The worthlessness of Vitamin D is mildly exaggerated
#128Your body needs vitamins in order to form complex aminos to operate. But your body only needs to make so many of them - especially if you are an adult, not pregnant, or not suffering from a disease of some sort. The very premise that loading up your body with "excess" vitamins beyond what you need is already pretty fraught. Building a house without enough lumber can lead to long term deficiency - but loading up a con…
These days it is same with protein... Too much protein fads.
> Too much protein
Re: The worthlessness of Vitamin D is mildly exaggerated
#129Re: The worthlessness of Vitamin D is mildly exaggerated
#130Medical doctor here. Please don't get health advice from hn comments. As a matter of fact, I advice against reading anything about health on hn, as the risks of dangerous misinformation far outweigh any useful information you might learn here.
Principal Armchair Commander here. I second this. That said I also avoid health advice from professionals. I have too often found their incentives to be in conflict with my well being. I just do my own research and ignore everyone, especially AI.
I assume you are American? I find it sad that a doctor has any incentive other than providing their patients with the best care possible.