Steve Gibson on Vitamin D

Though my favorite podcast, Security Now, usually aims to cover topics related to computer security, Steve Gibson decided to devote an episode to a topic that he felt was very important to everyone: vitamin D.

Steve makes the great point that vitamin D is not patentable! Thus, the large pharmaceutical companies with all the money have no incentive to research, and the burden is left to universities and other organizations with limited funding. So, it has only been in recent years that this powerful steroid hormone (as he describes it) has been more fully understood.

UVB rays from the sun can cause you to produce vitamin D in your skin. It is widely accepted that we originally evolved in Africa near the equator with plenty of direct sunlight. It is believed that these abundant amounts of vitamin D, over time, caused the substance to become very important to the function of our bodies. So it’s no wonder vitamin D turns out to be such an important part of a healthy individual.

Up here in North America, though, we can only get the UVB rays for about half an hour around high noon due to the latitude. At any time outside this window, the rays are absorbed by the atmosphere before they reach us. So, dietary supplements become the most realistic way for us to get our vitamin D.

Our bodies were designed to have this in normal operation, but since we essentially don’t get it these days, there is an epidemic of vitamin D deficient people. This is bad, because having some vitamin D means:

• Greatly decreased chances of a long list of cancers
• General increase in effectiveness of the immune system
• Mood elevation (ever heard of seasonal affective disorder?)
• Better calcium metabolism (stronger bones)
• Probably some other stuff I’ve forgotten, or that isn’t even known yet

So I’ve taken Steve’s advice and got some supplements. They’re inexpensive, easy to swallow, and I only have to take one of these tiny capsules every three days.

I highly recommend that you either read his vitamin D page, listen to the podcast (linked on the page), or both. He goes into much more detail than I have, and I found it all quite interesting.

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