> breast cancer, colorectal cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, asthma, type 1 diabetes and myopia. Vitamin D has long been considered the principal mediator of beneficial effects of sun exposure. However, oral vitamin D supplementation has not been convincingly shown to prevent the above conditions; thus, serum 25(OH)D as an indicator of vitamin D status may be a proxy for and not a mediator of beneficial effects of sun exposure.
Quite a few, not all, but most, of the maladies they list seem to be well connected to a sedentary lifestyle. Is it possible that this, rather than insufficient sunlight, could be the cause?
I also wonder (wild stereotyping here, but) if there could be some correlations between some of the childhood stuff—Autism, asthma, autoimmune disorders and parents’ class. For example, if someone is an indoor worker, they are probably more likely to be white collar, right? Are we more likely to detect autism for white collar parents (who tend to be a bit more intrusive)?
I don’t have any real suggestions, just a worry that amount of time spent outdoors is a proxy for tons of stuff, including class basically, so it seems incredibly hard to study.