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Comment by wireprotocol | Hacker News Reader

And if people hoard it and it's out of stock, you can just go outside!

It doesn't take hoarding, although that doesn't help. There are precious few products that can stay on the shelves when everyone decides they need some at once.

At northern latitudes, there isn't an available amount of sunlight, such that dark-skinned people can synthesize a healthy amount of vitamin D. Indeed, this is probably why light skin is selected for at those latitudes.

As a silver lining, I hope this crisis will provoke awareness of that fact. In most parts of the US, people with dark skin should definitely be taking supplemental Vitamin D. Really everyone should, unless they're a light-skinned sun-worshipper living in the Sun Belt.

Even if only white people are able to improve their outcomes, isn't that still a lot of people that would benefit? It seems like you're being a bit too negative here. It might be enough to slow the virus, which helps everyone.

And maybe the supplements are easy enough to make... They can probably be ramped up long before a vaccine comes along.

No. Avoiding a stroke spreads virus more than having a stroke and dying.

I'm confused. If vitamin D imoroves covid outcomes, and supplements run short, shouldn't we be happy that vitamin D is naturally accessible to many people?

It's harder to obtain naturally for blacks living in Seattle than whites living in Arizona. But it's still a good thing if it reduces covid deaths, right? And may slow the spread, therefor benefitting everyone?

Light skinned people shouldn’t get their vitamin d from the sun. The skin cancer risk far outweighs any benefit.

If it becomes scarce look up how to make vitamin d with mushrooms left in the sun.

You know white people aren't nocturnal vampires hiding behind parasols during the day, right?

Speak for yourself. My dermatologist won't let me out in the sun or the full moon (the latter because I might turn into a werewolf).

This is nonsense. 10-30 mins of sunlight a day without sunscreen for caucasians is something on the order of 10,000 IU of Vitamin D. You can do this safely without the worry of skin cancer.

Tell it to every derm I’ve talked to or read.

It might be good to exercise a bit of common sense before believing everything a doctor tells you.

How likely is it that getting even small amounts of sunlight is horribly dangerous? Do you believe in evolution? (For that matter, if you instead believe in creation by a benevolent god, you get the same answer.)

That's not even wrong when you haven't specified anglenpf sun (latitude or time of day.)

Clothed? Naked? In shorts?

It is hard to reconcile the fact that it's so easy to get enough D from sun in a short time with the fact that deficiency levels are roughly 40% in the US, with insufficiency (20-30ng/ml) much, much higher than 40% (and also high is much of the rest of the world). Look at the world chart in the paper (copied from Palacios et al review): 73% insufficiency in Austrelia, 61% in Britain even in summer, etc.).

This is an old wives’ tale. Most recent research indicates that moderate sun exposure without sunscreen (and without burning) is protective against many forms of cancer, including melanoma.

Furthermore, oral vitamin D supplementation is not proven to have the same benefits as endogenous D production, possibly indicating that the sun/skin interaction is doing something a little more complex than we currently understand.

I still supplement, of course. We’re all allowed a bit of magical thinking.

> Really everyone should, unless they're a light-skinned sun-worshipper living in the Sun Belt.

I hesitate to take any medical advice from the internet, but from what I can tell searching around a bit, the general consensus is that somewhere between 10 to 30 minutes of direct sunlight a day is more than sufficient (depending on how high the sun gets in the sky at your latitude and time of year..)

Hanging out on my porch for an hour a day seems to have me covered, despite living near Canada.

but what puzzles me about that direct sunlight recommendation: is it full-body (which is kinda impractical for most), shorts or trousers, how does it scale? Basically, 10-30 minutes just equates to what you should do anyway: go out and practice humanities special skills a little.

The guidance I've read seems to assume a t-shirt, maybe shorts. Bare face and neck. I'm not sure it's so critical though; I've been sunburnt through a tshirt before.

You can go outside and have a smoke ... that helps too ...

Can you explain?

Humour, well almost.

Smoking appears to be protective against covid-19. https://twitter.com/trishgreenhalgh/status/12583940557734297...

My doctor told me plenty of Americans have trouble making vitamin D even with sun exposure.

Why is that? Is there some missing ingredient?

People don't spend enough time outdoors to generate a sufficient amount of vitamin D.

The idea is that if vitamin D improves outcomes for covid 19, and the stores are all out of the supplements, then you can go in your backyard instead.

Backyards are relatively uncommon in some places in America: lots of high-rises, many without balconies.

That, and there isn't enough sunlight in many places, and many people's bodies can't make enough Vitamin D with sunlight (and the body's ability to do so decreases as you age).

1. Time in Sun

2. Angle of Sun

3. Sufficient Cholesterol

Just 13 min and The time of day is critical.. the sun must be above 50' above horizon for UVB to penetrate the atmosphere to reach the skin. When your skin is exposed to sunlight, it makes vitamin D from cholesterol

https://theralightinc.com/best-time-to-get-vitamin-d-from-su...

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-from-sun#time...

My doctor told me genetics has a role too.

My dad is vitamin D deficient despite living in south Florida and being outside alot. And so am I (I live in Georgia).

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/vitamin-d-...

That assumes that (a) there is enough sunlight available, and (b) your body is capable of making enough Vitamin D from sunlight.

(a) is not true in many places, and (b) is not true of many people (and it gets less true as you age).

From a public health standpoint, it's still good even if it only helps some fraction of people. I think that fraction is pretty large.

There are lots of other good health reasons to go outside, and I'm certainly not saying not to. I'm just saying you might not want to assume that just doing that is sufficient for your Vitamin D needs.

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