vitamin D?

[Spokey]

So if there's many foods that contain it (in NATURAL amounts) why supplement?

We don't necessarily have access to those foods. Massed produced pork fat doesn't contain nearly as much as free range lard does. Many here don't eat oily fish (or take cod liver oil), or fish roe. Which leaves eggs and dairy. If dairy is defatted the vitamin containing portion of the milk is removed.

I'm not arguing for supplementation, just against the idea that vitamin D is somehow inherently problematic if not obtained through sunlight (which might have it's own drawbacks, as demonstrated by the lifeguards).

 

[mt_dreams]

I thought getting sun between 12 and 3 was for vitamin d?

Vitamin D can only be created using the sun when the sun is at a high enough angle to not have UVB reflected by earth. So yes, if you want your body to create vitamin D via the sun, you will need to spend some time with skin (core & back being the best) exposed during summer mid-day. This does not guarantee that you will create vitamin D, as uvb is only one aspect, but without this step, you will not be able to create your own vitamin D.

I don't do well spending lots of time in the sun unless it's rising or setting. To get around this issue, I exposed my skin for 2-5 min every hour so I don't get too much uv all at once.

Other hours for red light but not "D"? Or are midday, mid summer rays too harmful?

Aside from the initial rise & set of the sun, the sun provides all colors of the spectrum. So if the sun is in the sky, the sun will be giving off blue, red, orange, etc. The only time the sun gives off more of the warmer colors, and less blue, is when it gets closer to the horizon.

UVA is high from about 2 hours after sunrise, to about 2 hours before sunset. UVB is high 1-3 hours before & after your solar noon. Radiation is highest at solar noon b/c both UVA & UVB are hitting your body. So although midday exposure is needed to create vitamin D, spending too much time exposed all at once (while the sun is high in the sky) may result in future complications from receiving too many high doses of radiation absorption.