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[deleted] t1_ituxrim wrote

Reply to comment by jah05r in Vitamin D deficiency linked to premature death. Over a 14-year follow up period, researchers found that the risk for death significantly decreased with increased vitamin D concentrations, with the strongest effects seen among those with severe deficiencies. by Wagamaga

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jah05r t1_itv1l2z wrote

Oh, that is total nonsense. People today are much, much healthier than they were in our Hunter-gatherer state. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have room for improvement or that every change made resulted in improved health.

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Andydan777 t1_itvgf9d wrote

How so? I would wager the bloodwork of old humans is better than your average overweight american.

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jah05r t1_itvj15q wrote

Mostly because everything from availability of calories to quality of sanitation to quality of shelter to near-universal vaccination in today’s society is leaps and bounds better than it was in Hunter-gatherer days.

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grumble11 t1_itv2mov wrote

We are because we don’t get hurt as much, have better medical care and have more reliable food access, and have better support systems to keep people alive in extreme old age who would normally age naturally died. Those are technological adaptations, not lifestyle ones

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jah05r t1_itv35hi wrote

They are absolutely lifestyle adoptions. The widespread adoption of sanitation practices (especially clean drinking water) is the single most important lifestyle adoption we have made. Farming is a close second, which has both increased the food supply consistency and resulted in less dangerous behaviors.

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grumble11 t1_itv46ee wrote

Sure which is all technology. Sanitation isn’t a lifestyle change.

Farmers also weren’t exactly healthier - the average size of a farmer shrank materially versus hunters and signs of malnutrition were obvious and frequent - but they were more reliably able to access calories over time so it won out. Do you believe that you are unable to access calories now?

Spend a large amount of time outdoors, moderate exercise for hours a day, whole unprocessed food you could find a thousand years ago, sleep adequately and early.

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jah05r t1_itv6ct3 wrote

Sanitation was absolutely a lifestyle change. Things like washing your hands and bathing regularly were nowhere close to standard practice until quite recently.

And the reason it seems like farmers shrank in size is because so many more of them lived into old age. You no longer had to be the biggest or strongest to survive, and the extraordinary steps that Hunter-gatherers took to control population size (aka infanticide) were no longer necessary because enough food was available for a larger population.

Do you honestly think calories were more accessible to Hunter-gatherers than they are now?

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bg370 t1_itv38jx wrote

Huge numbers of people died from vitamin D deficiency, often during childbirth. As Africans moved into Europe the darkest ones died and the lightest ones lived because of too little vitamin D. Eventually we got white people. Once they hit Scandinavia they went kinda albino in order to get enough sun - blonde hair and blue eyes.

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FreydisTit t1_itwh2by wrote

Just to add, the mesolithic hunter gatherers of Scandinavia and Europe had dark skin for around 40k years or more after their migration out of Africa. There wasn't a need for them to adapt their melanin to colder climates because they ate a diet rich in vitamin D3, creating a shortcut that doesn't require sun exposure. They consumed fish, the livers of large mammals, and mushrooms. They were also lactose intolerant like their African ancestors. They did have the mutations for light eyes.

It wasn't until migrations to the area during the neolithic period that farming was introduced to this area, and hunter gatherers lived with farming societies for a thousand years or so before the complete adoption of agriculture. These migrations, along with climate change, the loss of hunter gatherer diet, genetic mutations for lactose tolerance, mutations regarding immunity, and sexual selection, led to lighter skin, which just happened in the last 4k years or so. Archeological evidence coupled with DNA show that vitamin D deficiency did become a problem during this transition.

I'm glad you brought up vitamin D deficiency, because it is really a problem, especially for those with darker skin near the equator. They have fewer natural sources of D3, and some cultural and religious practices in these areas lead to women, who need Vitamin D the most for bone health because of estrogen, to suffer from vitamin D deficiency in the highest numbers. The children in these areas are disproportionately affected as well.

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bg370 t1_itxw46r wrote

Thank you for the write up

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