The evolutionary mis-match: Vitamin D
Firstly thank you to the Lions of Chiropractic, on Monday night I presented a short talk on vitamin B12: An epidemic of mis-diagnosis and missed diagnosis.
For me learning functional medicine and nutrition from a Chiropractic point of view, is like taking the red pill in the film The matrix.
Once you see the truth about your patient’s health and symptoms from a nutritional (and neuromechanical perspective), there is no going back.
The reality is until I understood how profound vitamin B12 is for us as neuromechanical practitioners (it makes myelin, that pretty freakin’ important, right?), I was missing a lot of correct diagnoses because I was only looking through the lens of the neuromechanical system.
Your body is neuromechanical, metabolic and emotional/psychological.
You simply cannot ignore the metabolic side of health.
And if you think you can simply refer out for nutrition, my question is this?
How will you know they need to be referred out for B12 assessment if you don’t know the symptoms B12 presents with and the risk factors?
So as a special offer, I have once again opened the course up to new members, and we are already happily welcoming in new practitioners ready to create significant and sustainable changes through neuromechanical care.
You offer runs out on Monday night and the course closes once again.
You can check out the offer here and watch the “backstage video” so you can see everything on offer:
On to this weeks newsletter, I read a quote the other day which fits perfectly with one of the ACN’s “Core Commandments”, number 2 specifically:
I have modified the quote and now claim it as my own, like a British explorer “discovering” new country’s.
It goes like this:
“Evolution and biology does not care about your philosophy and
belief system”
We are in the midst of an epidemic (an actual one) of chronic illness as a result of a mismatch between our evolutionary development and our modern lifestyles.
From the food we eat to our social interaction to our warm cosy toxic homes, it simply does not match how we evolved.
This is all nicely presented by someone way smarter than me, the evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman is his book, the story of the human body
FUN FACT: I learnt from this book that monkeys have no gluteus medius. Think about how they walk on two legs…..it is a bilateral compensated Trendelenburg sign!!
Anyhoo…..as we discussed a few weeks ago, vitamin D is looking good at stopping COVID from causing deaths and of course these are especially high in black and Asian groups.
We know that if you are anything other than caucasian, the rates of vitamin D deficiency in the UK is 100% across the board.
The reason?
An evolutionary mismatch.
At some point, people (or their ancestors) from a BAME background moved from a country close to the equator to the UK.
The higher melanin content of darker skin is protective against the sun, which is a good thing if you live close to the equator.
At the equator with dark skin, you can still make enough vitamin D because you have consistent sun, but you don’t burn.
But if your ancestors are from central Africa and you live in Scotland, you have a serious mismatch on a biological level.
High melanin skin content with low-level UVB rays = very little vitamin D production = deficiency.
Even if you are caucasian, from September/October to March/April you simply cannot make any vitamin D, the UVB is too weak.
This is likely one of the reasons why fermented fish products have been used to promote health as far back as 2600 years ago.
Back then was known as “garum” and was highly prized.
This is likely how fermented cod liver oil evolved.
https://www.thehealthcloud.co.
While there are lots of important nutrient in cod liver oil, vitamin D is especially important as there are not many other food sources and you are 100% reliant on food sources in the winter.
It is a great example of how we can learn from ancestral health and the way tribes/society can show us a path to health, well worn by our ancestors.
These mismatches might also give us clues as to why BAME groups in the UK are especially prone to certain health issues.
People of African or Caribbean heritage are far more likely to develop psychosis (nearly seven times higher than Caucasians).
The reasons for mental health issues are always complex and multifaceted with many factors affecting each other, so we simply cannot draw any definitive conclusions.
However, as with COVID, we can go back to basics and understand that:
– low vitamin D levels are very pro-inflammatory
– neuro-inflammation is directly linked with significant mental health issues
– People of African and Caribbean heritage are always low in vitamin D in the UK
Even if we don’t have a placebo-controlled RCT of vitamin D for BAME groups for mental health issues, wouldn’t it make sense to correct for the evolutionary mismatch and give everyone an optimal vitamin D levels, consistent with sun exposure of suitable strength for your skins melanin content?
Me personally, I am awaiting delivery of a Sperti vitamin D UVB lamp.
https://www.sperti.com/
I will be getting 5 minutes of UVB every other day, to produce endogenous vitamin D all year round.
I will test my vitamin D levels in the next few weeks, which will be my peak after a long hot summer.
Then again after a few months of use to see if I can maintain optimal vitamin D without supplements.
ACTION TO TAKE
– Check out Daniel Lieberman’s book “The story of the human body”
– Test your vitamin D levels for a measly £29 with a finger prick test
http://www.vitamindtest.org.uk
– Stop shaming monkeys with hilarious GIF’s of their gait, it not their fault, they evolved that way.