Eskimos evolved to get and limit Vitamin D from food

An interesting line of reasoning by a reader of Vitamin D Life.

Complete version of this, with hyperlinks, is in an attached file at bottom of this page - April 2010

Due to the zenith angle of the sun not enough UVB reaches the ground that far north. These far northern peoples relied on their ancestral diet for vitamin D. As you know vitamin D is fat soluble. That is why it requires 2-3 times the daily D3 supplement for the obese to maintain healthy serum vitamin D, for it gets caught up in their body fat. In regards to the Inuit and Eskimo their diet of whale, seal, and walrus blubber (vitamin D saturated fat), along with eggs and char (trout) are all rich in vitamin D. These northern peoples did not rely on the sun for vitamin D, they consumed it.

But how did the Inuit and Eskimo avoid vitamin D toxicity? The answer comes in two parts; 1) bile acidity, 2) gut gene polymorphisms.

A high fat diet changes bile acidity making it more acid. Higher bile acidity flushes vitamin D out of the gut.

High animal-fat intake changes the bile-acid composition of bile ...
diet, and a high cow-fat diet.
First, we evaluated the bile acid ..... High cow-fat diet. Free bile acids. Cholic acid. 0.45 ? 0.31. 0.80 ? 0.00 ...
doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1349-7006.2007.00605.x
THE ROLE PLAYED BY BILE IN THE ABSORPTION OF VITAMIN D IN THE RAT ...
by JD Greaves - 1933 - Cited by 39 - Related articles
of bile vitamin D is not absorbed which in turn leads to a negative calcium and phosphorus balance. Support to the latter hypoth- ...

Just as people who rely on the sun have gene polymorphisms in their skin pigment based on latitude (blacks at the equator, light skinned blondes in Norway) to regulate serum vitamin D production, the Inuit and Eskimo have a gut gene polymorphism that reduces their ability to absorb vitamin D in the gut. If you gave a white and an Inuit the same daily supplement of vitamin D3 in winter, the Inuit would have lower serum vitamin D results.

When the Inuit and Eskimos shifted from their ancestral diet to a European diet this occurred;
Changes in Arctic diet put Inuit at risk for rickets - The Globe ...
Changes in Arctic diet put Inuit at risk for rickets ... While seal and char are still staples in Nunavut's isolated communities, walrus and whale ...
www.theglobeandmail.com/life/changes-in...inuit...rickets/article763831/

It is the same reason the Inuit had a worse time with recent H1N1 pandemic, for vitamin D is being tied to the immune system and influenza prevention and better outcomes. It offers a three punch attack boosting killer T-cells, producing natural antibiotic, and down regulating the cytokine storm which is the killer in influenza.
CIDRAP >> Serious H1N1 cases in Canadian Inuits raise concern
9 Jun 2009 ... Serious H1N1 cases in Canadian Inuits raise concern ... groups that have been hit by serious cases of H1N1 influenza are not Inuit, ...
www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/.../jun0909firstnation.html - Cached - Similar
Epidemic influenza and vitamin D.
by JJ Cannell - 2006 -
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16959053 - Similar

The Inuit suffer most all the vitamin D deficiency wasting diseases in epidemic numbers now that they have moved away from their ancestral diet.

Here is the smoking gun for vitamin D absorption polymorphisms in aboriginals;

Canadian Aboriginal Women Have a Higher Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency than Non-Aboriginal Women Despite Similar Dietary Vitamin D Intakes

1,2 Hope A. Weiler3,*, William D. Leslie4, John Krahn4, Pauline Wood Steiman6 and Colleen J. Metge5
3 Human Nutritional Sciences, 4 Faculty of Medicine, and 5 Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, R3T 2N2 MB, Canada and 6 Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Winnipeg, R3C 0M6 MB, Canada hope.weiler at mcgill.ca .

Canadian Aboriginal women have high rates of bone fractures, which is possibly due to low dietary intake of minerals or vitamin D. This study was undertaken to estimate dietary intake of calcium and vitamin D by designing a culturally appropriate dietary survey instrument and to determine whether disparities exist between Aboriginal and white women. After validation of a FFQ, 183 urban-dwelling and 26 rural-dwelling Aboriginal women and 146 urban white women completed the validated FFQ and had serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH)D measured. Urban Aboriginal women had lower (P = 0.0004) intakes of total dietary calcium than urban white women; there was no difference in rural Aboriginal women. Only a minority of all women met the adequate intake (AI) for calcium intake. Ethnicity did not affect total vitamin D intake; however, rural Aboriginal women consumed all of their dietary vitamin D from food sources, which was more (P < 0.03) than both urban Aboriginal and white women. Rural and urban Aboriginal women had lower (P < 0.0004) serum 25(OH)D than urban white women. We found that 32% of rural Aboriginal, 30.4% of urban Aboriginal, and 18.6% of urban white women were vitamin D deficient, with serum 25(OH)D concentrations <37.5 nmol/L. The high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among Aboriginal women, combined with lower dietary intake of calcium, especially in older women, likely contributes to the higher incidence of fracture in this population.

The more worrisome link is how serum vitamin D changes in premature, low birth weight infants.

Due to advances in medicine 12% of all surviving births are premature, low birth weight infants.
Of these 50% suffer some degree of Choleotasis (changes bile) which seems to create vitamin D absorption issues in the gut and this segment of the population sees this life long result;

Low Birth Weight as a Risk Factor for Gestational Diabetes ... >

by DJ Pettitt - 2007 - Cited by 9 - Related articles
Low Birth Weight as a Risk Factor for Gestational Diabetes, Diabetes, and Impaired .... in women whose own birth weights were either very high or very low. ...
care.diabetesjournals.org/content/30/Supplement_2/S147.full - Similar

Low Birth Weight Is a Risk Factor for Type 2 Diabetes - General ...

Although parental diabetes is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and maternal diabetes is a risk factor for macrosomia, the relationship between birth weight ...
general-medicine.jwatch.org › Specialties › General Medicine - Similar

Low Birth Weight, a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Diseases in ... >

by T Pfab - 2006 - Cited by 16 - Related articles

Birthweight and the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus in adult women. ... Hirata T. Attenuated response to insulin in very low birthweight infants. ...

www.circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/114/16/1687 - Similar

Periodontitis as a Risk Factor for Preterm Low Birth Weight >
by I Marakoglu - 2008 - Cited by 6 - Related articles
The very low birth weight infant: the broader spectrum of morbidity during ... Periodontal infection as a possible risk factor for preterm low birth weight. ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › ... › Yonsei Med J › v.49(2); Apr 30, 2008

Birthweight as a risk factor for breast cancer.
by KB Michels - 1996 - Cited by 267 - Related articles
INTERPRETATION: Birthweight is significantly associated with breast-cancer risk, which suggests that intrauterine factors or processes affect the risk of ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8950880

Risk of Autism - Low Birth Rate and Risk of Autism
Low Birth Weight Raise a Baby's Risk of Autism? ... In other words, while low birth weight does, in fact, present a risk factor for autism, the risk is ... Early autistic behaviors seem to be an underrecognized feature of very low birth weight infants. ... Risk Of Rheumatoid Arthritis May Be Tied To Birth Weight ...
autism.about.com/od/causesofautism/a/preemierisk.htm - Cached - Similar

Very low birthweight and asthma by age seven years in a national ...
by BA DARLOW - 2000 - Cited by 22 - Related articles
Asthma ; Cohort study ; Child ; Very low birthweight ; Pathophysiology ; Prevalence ; Risk factor ; Concomitant disease ; Premature ; Human ; Respiratory ...
cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=789216

And finally…

Adults Born With Very Low Birth Weight at Risk for Osteoporosis

(Ivanhoe Newswire) — In a new study, Petteri Hovi and colleagues from the National Institute for Health and Welfare Helsinki, Finland evaluated skeletal health in 144 adults, ages ranging from 18 to 27 years, who were born preterm with very low birth weight. They show that as adults these individuals have significantly lower bone mineral density than do their term-born peers and suggest that this finding translates into increased risk for osteoporosis in adulthood for these individuals.

SOURCE: PLoS Medicine, August 24, 2009

The most interesting aspect of serum vitamin D is how it affects cultural behavior. This is due to the relationship between serum vitamin D and serotonin production. Serotonin is tied to memory, learning, libido, mood, and impulse control along with aggression regulation.

Once you understand serotonin and its function, as well as how serotonin levels are tied to serum vitamin D levels look at how it has affected cultures. First look at the Eskimo that will share a spouse sexually with no aggression, and then look at the Middle East where the body is hidden from the sun for theological reasons (down regulate libido) and the impulse control, aggression issues found there. Then look towards Norway and cultural norms regarding public nudity. Serum vitamin D drives cultural behavior.

You can even plot the major wars and there onset as related to the suns solar variation in UVB production. When the sun is less active it produces less UVB. When did the friction that resulted in WWI and WWII build to a boiling point, during solar minima;

You can slot in any number of world conflicts as related to lower available UVB affecting serum vitamin D, affecting serotonin production, as related to aggression and impulse control (World Trade Center). All had a depleted UVB precursor.

I do not know if you are a religious person but it certainly amplifies the story of Adam and Eve and being ejected from Eden after hiding their bodies from God’s light.

You have an excellent resource page on vitamin D, but I believe the implications of serum vitamin D go far beyond health. It reaches into culture and behavior.

Simply look at Seasonal Affective Disorder for the short term seasonal effects of vitamin D deficiency regarding mood and behavior and then expand that to cultural trends and their relationship to the sun.

D3 (soltriol) in etiology and therapy of seasonal affective disorder and other mental …

WE Stumpf, TH Privette - Psychopharmacology, 1989 - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
This is a review and a prospectus of effects of vitamin D on the brain. Effects of sunlight and equivalent
artificial light on physiological and behavioral processes are probably mediated, in large
part, through the skin-vitamin D-endocrine system. Experimental evidence from our ...
Cited by 26 - Related articles - All 3 versions
A good example of the theory is placing murder rates, skin cancer rates, and sunscreen popularization on the same graph;

Our modern relationship with the sun and the knock affects of the related serum vitamin D has us devolving as a species behaviorally.

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See also Vitamin D Life

• All items in Far from Equator and vitamin D 111 items
• Inuit preschoolers were very vitamin D deficient – Aug 2010
• Even eating whale blubber does not provide enough vitamin D
• Evolution and Vitamin D, Omega-3, obesity, mito. DNA, etc. – Feb 2019
• Search Vitamin D Life with Google for Inuit 137 results as of Feb 2019
• Gallbladder removal and vitamin D deficiency