I am sure you’ve seen them – the poster boy “nerd”. Sniffing, sneezing, snotting their way through life.
You know the kid who cannot play outside because well…………. he/she is allergic to grass, cats, pollen……… everything “natural” and then quite a few man-made things as well. The pale creature spends enormous amounts of time indoors, avoiding contact with “nature”.
Some of these dudes do go on to be very very rich, because they channel their indoor “play time” into becoming masters of the cyber world, but for the most part the allergic personality persists into adulthood. A complicated existence of vigilant avoidance of offending allergens.
Could the root of the problem be an “allergy” to the sun ?
A recent study investigating the “allergic” profile suggest that youngsters sufferering from allergies, typically have low vitamin D levels. The lower the vitamin D levels the bigger than chances of the child being “allergic”.
Chicken and the egg
The research doesn’t claim that low vitamin D levels CAUSE allergies.
But the observed connection makes sense. Among vitamin Ds long list of actions – influencing immune system is there and…….
- Allergy typically produces an outdoor phobia.
- Spending little time outside means that exposure to Vitamin D (via the sun) is severely curtailed.
- And low vitamin D levels increase the odds of developing an “allergic” persona which drives outdoor phobia.
The chicken and the egg scenario.
Spend a little time “under the sun”
Generally speak, modern man, allergic or otherwise could probably do with spending a little extra time “under the sun”.
Statistics suggest vitamin D deficiency is widespread. And shortages of this vitamin due to its ubiquitous nature seems to be associated with a long list of potential health problems.
BUT kids particularly at risk of developing allergies might need to make a special effort to get down and dirty in THE SUN !
Sun time is cooking time
No one is advocating baking in the sun for hours. 15-20 minutes is enough to cook up vitamin D but won’t grill your DNA to a point that you end up with skin cancer down the line.
If spending time “under the sun” is impossible (there is none of it) or seriously undesirable (you just don’t like it) then consider buying a vitamin D supplement.
Check you vitamin D status
Sun tanning is unlikely to cause a toxic overload of the stuff – mother nature is too smart to get it wrong. But supplementing does require a little caution because “too much” of a good thing is A BAD thing.
A quick blood test can alert you to your vitamin D status and help you ensure that you get the levels up into a healthy range.
NOTE : You want to avoid developing the allergies – once your body is producing those offending IgE molecules, all the vitamin D in the world won’t help. The only way to keep the sniffles at bay, will be avoid the allergen and/or keep a lid on the hypersensitive immune system pharmacologically, but be careful – anti-histamines (a go to allergy med) have been linked to obesity.
Vitamin D levels and food and environmental allergies in the United States: Results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2011 Shimi Sharief, Sunit Jariwala, Juhi Kumar, Paul Muntner, Michal L. Melamed.Further reading
 |
 |
 |
| Are you washing your vitamin D down the drain ? | Little girls need to wallow in dirt to grow up healthy | Vitamin D gets the blood vessels bending it like Beckam |
Dive into our blog library to learn more
