Comments on: Gah! We cannot wins!

By: Mary Anne Mohanraj

Mary Anne Mohanraj — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:21:06 +0000

Should add note that you don’t need full-on sunlight — overcast days I believe work just fine for getting you the right light to hold off the rickets.

But, interestingly, you can’t just stand next to a sunny window indoors — the glass filters out the helpful bits.

By: serafina zane

serafina zane — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:34:16 +0000

my dad is always telling me to go outside or i’ll catch rickets.

By: shloopy

shloopy — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 22:01:32 +0000

Oh, great… One winter where I live had 32 days of only cloudiness. In a row. The day after, I asked my sister “Wait… When was the sky ever blue?” I’m serious, it was that bad. 90% of everyone had a case of depression.

yay justine! You posted at 0:00! And Veronica at 12:12!
(My randomness fairy is acting up again…)

By: pixelfish

pixelfish — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:24:18 +0000

Whee….according to wikipedia, individuals with red hair might make more vitamin d in a short amount of time. (Of course, we’re also likelier to get skin cancer. Le sigh.)

By: Kenina-chan

Kenina-chan — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:48:23 +0000

Great. I live in the 2nd cloudiest city in the US. I guess I’ll go outside and play in the snow. *Shudder*

By: Veronica

Veronica — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:12:02 +0000

Well, this is the thing. I think at a certain point we all have to accept that we just can’t protect ourselves from every single bad thing that might kill us, and do what we like.

By: veejane

veejane — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:36:32 +0000

FWIW, US milk is fortified with vitamin D for this very reason. So, eating ice cream is a healthy thing to do!

(Or spinach, but, spinach doesn’t have that junk-food elan of ice cream.)

By: Justine

Justine — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:50:41 +0000

Robert: The only way you could possibly say that is because you’ve never lived somewhere like Australia. I’ve seen people with parts of their nose and ears cut away. I’ve seen people die of skin cancer. It’s not pretty. The danger of skin cancer is absolutely real. It’s just much more dangerous in Australia than it is in New York state.

I’m with emmaco above: I’m much more scared of skin cancer than rickets.

Marrije: the bit you quote sounds very much like ohmygodtheskywillfall scaredy bad newspaper tactics. millions of people!! at risk!! of horrid diseases!!

Absolutely. I was going for the comedy factor. The newspapers are doing what newspapers do. I’ll continue to mostly stay out of the sun at home and not worry about it so much here in where-is-the-bloody-sun-anyway NYC. If nothing else avoiding the sun has kept me looking young!

By: Patrick, The Space Lord

Patrick, The Space Lord — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:44:03 +0000

isn’t rickets just a weird form of baseball?

By: Mary Anne Mohanraj

Mary Anne Mohanraj — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:28:16 +0000

Well, speaking as the mother of a newborn who has been inundated with research on the subject, there’s been a sharp rise in the incidence of rickets among babies recently, due to doctors telling parents to keep babies out of the sun for the first year.

This is mediated by how far north of the equator you live (the sun is weaker in the north) and how dark your skin is (the darker your skin, the more time you need in the sun to make a difference). So the African-Canadian population is at a lot more risk than whites in the South of the U.S., for example.

The current recommendation is 30-60 minutes of sun exposure a day, or supplemental vitamin D drops. The latter option is pissing off all the ardent ‘breast is best’ folks, who want to believe that breastmilk is a perfect food. It is a very good food, but nothing human (or human-made) is perfect. So it goes.

By: marrije

marrije — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:25:31 +0000

the bit you quote sounds very much like ohmygodtheskywillfall scaredy bad newspaper tactics. millions of people!! at risk!! of horrid diseases!!

bollocks, i say.

By: Elmo

Elmo — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:30:41 +0000

Well, I definitely think that there is a line…I don’t know where it is, but I know there is a line…
My mum plays sports all the time and is constantly out in the sun running after five kids, and she got skin cancer on her face…
But as I have done Science I know about the whole vitamin D thing too…
I guess its all part of living in a country where we have sun all the time, all year round…(except when its night…and when its raining (which isnt’ all the often)) and not having the helpful high levels of mel…mela skin pigment stuff that comes of living here for 40,000 years…

By: Robert Legault

Robert Legault — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 09:52:45 +0000

I’ve always viewed this whole “stay out of the sun” thing with a lot of skepticism. OK, it varies according to your skin type, but as for me, I can tan really, really dark. And when I have, a lot of skin trouble that has bothered me off and on for years has gone away. For that reason alone I will continue to try to tan.

It’s pretty clear that getting burned is not good for you, but I’m all in favor of tanning. This is how most people evolved: spending a lot of time in the sun.

By: emmaco

emmaco — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:43:36 +0000

This seems a bit strange. I mean, sure osteoporosis cases are on the rise, but so are numbers of old people.

And I reckon people who aren’t getting any sunlight must be inside too much anyway. Even if sunscreen inhibits vitamin D uptake (and who remembers to renew sunscreen all day every day?) surely just walking or driving around still gives you enough vitamin D?

I reckon rickets are better than skin cancer.

By: lizabelle

lizabelle — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:16:01 +0000

According to Dr Miriam Stoppard, your body needs about 40 mins of daylight (not necessarily sunlight) per day for vitamin D.

Yeah, I know – every expert has a different opinion.

I sympathise, though – as a British expat living in Sydney, I’m constantly paranoid about skin cancer. I never gave it a thought until I came here!

By: Liset

Liset — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:28:18 +0000

hehehe…

oh shit
my frail bones are going to fracture under my pale skin…

gah!

By: Mary Elizabeth S.

Mary Elizabeth S. — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:45:49 +0000

oh, yeah, and here’s those vitamin d tabs you asked for. they’re chewable.

*gives*

~Mary

By: Mary Elizabeth S.

Mary Elizabeth S. — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:44:40 +0000

Gah! This always happens.

Eggs are good for you, eggs are bad for you, eggs are good again. Coffee is evil, coffee is healthy. Chocolate will be the death or you, chocolate is your friend, wait no it’s not. Eat carbs, don’t eat carbs, eat only certain carbs. Hand sanitizer will save you from the plague, hand sanitizer kills your immune system. Would someone make up their mind already?

Sigh. It seems there is only one constant: falling down on concrete hurts. Every time.

~Mary