Vitamin D - Theories

[Quixotic1]

We need a thread or two devoted to theories of how disruption of Vitamin D activity can lead to disease.  I have invited others to discuss thier views in a dedicated thread, but have not been taken up on the offer.  There are two main views out there regarding the very common finding of low D3 levels in people with autoimmune diseases and with MS

1)  The low D3 is itself one of the triggering factors in causing disease.  This may be from a genetic dispostion to poor absorption and/or possible inadequate exposure to the UV rations needed to synthesize Vitamin D in the skin.

2) The low measured D3 levels are a secondary effect of another disease process and have nothing to do with taking in or synthesizing too little Vitamin D, but rather over-activity of the most active form of Vitamin D.

The floor is open to discussion.

Quix

[jensequitur]

I was born in southeast Texas, near the coast, and as a child spent a lot of time out in the sun.  I also ate a lot of fish, and drank a lot of Vitamin-D fortified milk.  I've always been light-skinned, which means that I get plenty of vitamin D with fifteen minutes of exposure.  (Vitamin D3 is made in the skin when ultraviolet light reacts with something called 7-dehydrocholesterol.)

Every year I would try to get tanned, which meant laying in the back yard with a swimsuit on, basting and turning my poor body, trying to get my skin to tan.  This went on for much of my life, until I turned thirty or so, and I started having lots of freckles and little weird moles every time I got a sunburn.

I think my first symptoms happened when I was twelve years old.  What this sounds like to me is that I have a genetic inability to manufacture vitamin d.

I'm not sure if this is important, but I also have vitiligo, which follows the trigeminal nerve of my face on the right side.

[Akcowboy]

I got too say that I have wondered about this for some time now, Living way up here in Alaska with are long cold winters with very low hours of daylight till summer hits but with the poor summers that we have been having lately, we have been wearing a light coat for the most part so with us getting very little UV's needed why are doc's just don't get it, that MS is a part of living here and most of the ppl here tell you to go down too the lower 48 to get a real dx

  Cowboy

[Wobbly]

Sorry, I have no info on this?  

andi