Global Warming and Vitamin D

Okay, I can hear it now. "What, more fallout from Global Warming?". Well, in a word "yes". Now we here at LaughingLime, try to stay a bit ahead of the curve and bring you information that you may not see in your morning paper. Perhaps parts of an otherwise well publicized story that has been largely ignored, and this subject fits nicely into that niche.

Although, that is not to say this isn't as important. It is! I would say, in terms of your personal health, this environmental trend deserves to receive immediate action on your part. Because, if we're right, it could mean millions more people across the globe will experience a rise in certain deadly diseases, because no one made them aware of this information. And unlike so much of what we know about global warming, this fix is very simple.

So without further adieu, let's begin. Most of us who have taken any time to learn about what lies at the root of the global warming problem, understand green house gases (like carbon dioxide)  are to blame. As the industrialized and developing world burns more fossil fuels and more coal fired power plants go on line, as the the ice caps begin to melt (which have until now trapped ancient stores of carbon), more carbon is released. The more carbon that is released, the faster the planet warms and the more rapidly the ice sheet melts, releasing still more carbon stores into the atmosphere. This is what is know as a "positive feedback loop". Not positive as in "good", you understand, but positive as in the process drives itself ever faster. (Find out the carbon score for your region by visiting Eredux.com)

Consider this scenario: you are backing up your car. You aren't wearing your seat belt and you accidentally step too hard on the gas pedal with the transmission is in reverse. This causes the car to lurch backward while your body temporarily remains where it was. The effect of the opposing forces (car moving backward and you remaining in place), is that the gas pedal is further depressed, driving the car back still faster and so it goes. This is meant to demonstrate that the process creates it own energy, by virtue of the exponential forces involved.

Now, with that little physics lesson behind us, what does this mean to our health and more specifically, to our vitamin D intake?

Well, as the temperature rises, many things might happen, depending on which of the many weather prediction models you look at. But one thing that all models agree on is that the World's oceans and reservoirs will heat up. This will not only cause more severe storms, but also cause more water to evaporate into the atmosphere. Sea levels will rise and low-lying areas may become flooded. The flooding will cause a greater overall surface area for evaporation to occur, and still more water vapor will be liberated. The result of that may be that less sunlight falls to Earth. And sunlight is the primary catalyst for our bodies to make vitamin D, an essential component in the maintenance of good health.

This is already a problem for people living at higher latitudes, which receive fewer solar-days per year. A perfect example of this is Lapland in Northern Finland. During their Kaamos the Sun falls below the horizon for at least 3 months of the year. Even in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, solar-days drop in number during the winter months. In both cases, natural vitamin D production is almost completely halted. This "Kaamos Effect" if you will, can begin to spread to other areas as sunlight is increasingly blocked by cloudy weather. Fires also may increase due to rising temperatures and parched land, as we have already seen in parts of the West and Southwest of the U.S., where the fire seasons set new records for the number of acres burned. The particulate matter released into the atmosphere by these fires also blocks sunlight, further amplifying the problem.

Why is Vitamin D so important?

Please read this informative article from Science News.

So how do you fix this problem. Well, if you read the article linked above, you probably already know. But if you don't have time and just want to cut to the chase, here it is. Go to your local vitamin store, ask the vitamin representative for a bottle of Vitamin D3, the active form of the molecule. You want it in a 1000mg dose, which you will take once per day. But remember, if you are taking any kind of drug therapy or if you have any chronic or acute conditions, always ask your doctor before beginning any vitamin regimens. But aside from that, regular Vitamin D3 intake has been shown to be exceedingly safe and potentially life-saving.

If you want to learn more about the Carbon Footprint for the area in which you live as well as other interactive resources on the environment, I urge you to visit and bookmark Eredux.com.

Be well,

Mark Reynolds