Is there information about population-level vitamin D supplementation (in milk or margarine or whatever) in high-latitude countries? I remember discussing this with people from Scandinavia at some point in 2022.
Regarding fortification, England has one of the worst records for population-level D supplementation, both because they have historically not differentiated between D2 and D3 (D3 is best, but UK officials had not admitted so), and because they fortify foods like margarine with a cap at 400 IU per 100 grams.
If you unfortunately lived in the UK and then tried relying on margarine to meet your daily D needs, then you'd end up consuming 1,000 grams (a kilogram, or 2.2 lbs) of margarine each day.
A better method would be to ramp-up the D3 in meat and eggs by giving vitamin D3 to farm animals.
How do we explain Summer mortality peaks in lower latitudes? While I can agree w fluctuating immune function being a driver of illness, it wouldn’t seem to explain Summer peaks in hot regions. Low vitD due to hiding from the heat? Is that even plausible?
According to Figure 2 above (excess winter mortality in 130 nations), in those nations with lower latitude there was still some residual excess of mortality in their "Winter" -- so I will first answer as if you are not asking for a general trend to be explained, but for anomalous local maxima during Summer.
One explanation of local maxima in Summer would be the duration (rather than the peak) of heat waves. While heat stroke only explains a tiny fraction of the deaths, prolonged heat waves keep people inside of buildings for long-enough periods to accomplish two things that stand out:
1) lower vitamin D
2) increased exposure to indoor air pollution
The use of cheap, window-mounted air-conditioners can be expected to increase fungal contamination of indoor air -- especially when run constantly for several days or weeks in a row. Coupled with the lowered vitamin D from staying inside for so long, you should expect more death from longer heat waves.
In a study involving Summer mortality in Catalonia [ PMC10235629 ], they cited a rise in "energy poverty" as a new cause. But "energy poverty" is expected to move people out of housing with "central air" and to force them to use cheap, window-mounted air-conditioners (or just fans while bearing the heat).
That study found heat-wave duration to be a significant predictor of mortality.
p.s., try a message to me so I can discuss Diamond Princess (my direct message to Engler about it didn't work)
I think it is plausible. Measuring those vitamin D levels to confirm or refute the hypothesis that hiding from the heat reduces Vitamin D might be challenging. If that hypothesis is refuted, I would propose an alternative hypothesis thar a clustering effect of hiding from the heat might cause more mortality, but I have no background about how to design a study to confirm or refute the second hypothesis.
Is there information about population-level vitamin D supplementation (in milk or margarine or whatever) in high-latitude countries? I remember discussing this with people from Scandinavia at some point in 2022.
cm27874,
Regarding fortification, England has one of the worst records for population-level D supplementation, both because they have historically not differentiated between D2 and D3 (D3 is best, but UK officials had not admitted so), and because they fortify foods like margarine with a cap at 400 IU per 100 grams.
If you unfortunately lived in the UK and then tried relying on margarine to meet your daily D needs, then you'd end up consuming 1,000 grams (a kilogram, or 2.2 lbs) of margarine each day.
A better method would be to ramp-up the D3 in meat and eggs by giving vitamin D3 to farm animals.
How do we explain Summer mortality peaks in lower latitudes? While I can agree w fluctuating immune function being a driver of illness, it wouldn’t seem to explain Summer peaks in hot regions. Low vitD due to hiding from the heat? Is that even plausible?
TNK,
According to Figure 2 above (excess winter mortality in 130 nations), in those nations with lower latitude there was still some residual excess of mortality in their "Winter" -- so I will first answer as if you are not asking for a general trend to be explained, but for anomalous local maxima during Summer.
One explanation of local maxima in Summer would be the duration (rather than the peak) of heat waves. While heat stroke only explains a tiny fraction of the deaths, prolonged heat waves keep people inside of buildings for long-enough periods to accomplish two things that stand out:
1) lower vitamin D
2) increased exposure to indoor air pollution
The use of cheap, window-mounted air-conditioners can be expected to increase fungal contamination of indoor air -- especially when run constantly for several days or weeks in a row. Coupled with the lowered vitamin D from staying inside for so long, you should expect more death from longer heat waves.
In a study involving Summer mortality in Catalonia [ PMC10235629 ], they cited a rise in "energy poverty" as a new cause. But "energy poverty" is expected to move people out of housing with "central air" and to force them to use cheap, window-mounted air-conditioners (or just fans while bearing the heat).
That study found heat-wave duration to be a significant predictor of mortality.
p.s., try a message to me so I can discuss Diamond Princess (my direct message to Engler about it didn't work)
I think it is plausible. Measuring those vitamin D levels to confirm or refute the hypothesis that hiding from the heat reduces Vitamin D might be challenging. If that hypothesis is refuted, I would propose an alternative hypothesis thar a clustering effect of hiding from the heat might cause more mortality, but I have no background about how to design a study to confirm or refute the second hypothesis.
Sanitation problems often result from clustering, and they might be easier to study.