This blog will report and comment on many aspects of Vitamin D in the UK
I am not a medical person, but I take a great interest in Preventive Health
One of the most significant things that we can all do to improve our health and live longer is to raise the level of Vitamin D in our blood closer to the levels of our ancestors in Africa.
There are some doctors who maintain that lack of sunlight, and therefore Vitamin D, is implicated in nearly 100 illnesses. Over time I will examine the evidence for each of these.
Vitamin D is wrongly named, since it is really a form of hormone, and is formed in our body by exposing our skin to sunlight, so that nature can modify the cholesterol.
Since we live in the UK at 50-55 degrees North, and we cover our bodies with clothes, we do not receive enough sunlight. It is worse in Scotland at 56-57 degrees North, where the weather is worse than the sunny south coast of England.
Also, people who have dark skin have developed natural sun-screen, so they receive even less sunlight than people with white skin.
Pity the immigrant woman who comes to the UK from a sunny country and wears much heavier clothes than she did in the hot country that she came from – her body will hardly ever be exposed to the sun.
The answer is probably for everyone in the UK to take a Vitamin D supplement. The question is how much and who pays ?
I will cover all these topics in the blog
Comments and questions are welcome
Rufus Greenbaum
Write to me at: rufus @ greenbaum . com
