> The only relevant math I need is that humans have done fine with animal fats for thousands of years.
That's true, however, humans have been spending days mostly inside, both living and working, for much, much less time than that, which dramatically affects how much natural D they are getting from the sun.
I'd love to see some research on the overall exposure to sunlight, on average, a person has received over the last century. My guess is that in very recent decades, especially the last couple, as working remotely and not needing to leave the house even to commute, sunlight exposure has plummeted.
Also, the risks of sun exposure have been widely reported over recent decades and advances in powerful sunblock have made even those who do spend time outdoors less likely to absorb the sun's rays.
So to place it in the context of how humans have lived for thousands of years ignores the realities of modern times.
Sunlight doesn't have vitamins. What supposedly happens is that when you get exposed to sunlight, some of the cholesterol in your blood gets converted to Vitamin D. What part of sunlight, you might wonder. Is it the visible spectrum? No, it's infrared, you know the thing that you get from your radiator.
So, two factors determine how much vitamin D you're going to get:
- cholesterol levels in your blood
- how much heat you're exposed to (i.e. how warm your room is)
I'm sure we need sunlight for other things... like our sleep cycles or whatever... but we definitely don't need it for vitamin D.
Another commenter pointed out the factual error about vitamin D coming from IR vs. UV, but there’s another misconception in this post.
The amount of IR you get exposed to is not the same thing as how warm your room is. If you touch a hot pan, or get hot because you’re hanging out where the air temperature is high, that heat isn’t being transferred to you by IR. It’s being transferred by thermal conduction: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_conduction
So even if vitamin D was created by IR, you wouldn’t get any from sitting in a hot room.
That's true, however, humans have been spending days mostly inside, both living and working, for much, much less time than that, which dramatically affects how much natural D they are getting from the sun.
I'd love to see some research on the overall exposure to sunlight, on average, a person has received over the last century. My guess is that in very recent decades, especially the last couple, as working remotely and not needing to leave the house even to commute, sunlight exposure has plummeted.
Also, the risks of sun exposure have been widely reported over recent decades and advances in powerful sunblock have made even those who do spend time outdoors less likely to absorb the sun's rays.
So to place it in the context of how humans have lived for thousands of years ignores the realities of modern times.