Loading...
 
Toggle Health Problems and D

How did people used to get vitamin D when far from equator in the Winter

Wondering how people used to get vitamin D in the winter

Note: It appears that no vitamin D from the sun when 40 degrees away from equator in the winter.

  • Burn the fat & vitamin D in the body which had been added with summer feasting
    • Winters were times of famine/fasting - and burning of fat and retrieving vitamin D stored in the fat
  • Campfires? - some small amount of vitamin D
  • Dried fish?
  • Lard and many game meats had lots of vitamin D - which could be consumed in the winter

Since flame detectors sometimes monitor UV there must be some UV in a fire - perhaps enough to generate some vitamin D

Flame Spectrum from WikiPedia: UV = purple area in lower left

Image

Wonder about animals in the Northern Winters

  • Do birds migrate South in the winter to get food AND vitamin D?
  • Do mammals which do not migrate (deer, rabbits,...) store vitamin D in fat and body tissue long enough to get to Spring?
  • Do mammals which burn fat during hibernation (bears, ground squirrels, ...) get vitamin D from their fat as well?
    • Interesting: Vitamin D2 in bears is higher in winter than in summer
  • Some animals eat dried grass in the winter
  • Many animals (which do not migrate) add fat in the summer - when vitamin D happens to be available

Humans unfortunately typically add fat in the winter - when vitamin D is usually NOT available

This gives one possible reason that evolution (in humans and many animals) caused the storing of vitamin D in fat

Burning fat for energy during the winter also releases vitamin D

Attached files

ID Name Comment Uploaded Size Downloads
654 Flame_spectrum from WikiPedia.JPG WikiPedia admin 23 Jul, 2011 13:06 19.48 Kb 1524
See any problem with this page? Report it (FINALLY WORKS)