Space Technology

By: Joseph Ante
ormThere seems to be three schools of thought concerning getting proper vitamin D nutrition.

Vitamin D2 is strongly supported by the drug industry which purchased and owns the patents to produce D2 which is a synthetic plant vitamin D compound derived by irriadiating yeast. (Vegans use this form of vitamin D because it is not derived from animals in anyway.) The drug industry has a large financial stake in D2 sales and production. D2 is mostly used in foods and milk supplementation and prescription vitamin D drugs but the diary industry has begun recently to favor the D3 form in their products. D2 is foreign to the body and not well utilized in the body compared to vitamin D3. In hospital studies in 1937 by Dr. Wayne Brehm synthetic D2 caused calcification of the kidneys and the placenta in pregnant women and Dr. Brehm noted D2 should not by used versus more natural means of supplementation.

Vitamin D3 is an animal based natural form of vitamin D manufactured from the wool of sheep. (The animals are not harmed in any way by this process.) D3 is produced by the human body and so is considered bio-identical and the preferred way to supplement vitamin D. Vitamin D3 is formed very rapidly in the skin of humans with sunlight. But sunlight is only strong enough about 6 months of the years in northern climates to produce vitamin D3.

The third school of thought, sunlight, is by far the best form of vitamin D nutrition. Vitamin D3 is formed in the skin with sunlight. Sunlight is only strong enough about 6 months of the year in northern climates. The main argument for sunlight is it is the most natural and complete form of vitamin D nutrition. There are hundreds of known vitamin D chemicals and precursors formed in the skin along with vitamin D3 which the body needs for complete nutrition and there are many more yet undiscovered compounds. Vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 are only two of these vitamin D compounds and they are a poor substitute verses sunlight when it is available.

The main drawback with sunlight is availability. It does not produce D3 in our skins in northern latitudes for about 6months of the year. Also blacks need many times more sunlight than whites who have adapted to northern climates with lighter skins.

Sunlight can easily be supplemented with UBV lamps during the winter months if they were widely used which they are not. But full spectrum lamps may be much safer than UBV light alone because full spectrum light naturally limits the total amount of vitamin D3 the skin makes in the body. Research has not been done on common full spectrum CFS lightbulbs to determine if they are strong enough to make vitamin D in the skin. But since many of these plant type grow lights are used to grow plants they probably do have a similar effect as does sunlight on the human skin.

The main problem for society is that vitamin D nutrition is severely deficient in the general population according to current and all previous blood sample studies. And this deficiency is resulting in widespread disease and medical and financial burdens on society. So quadrupling the Vitamin D minimum daily requirement to 1600 mg per day is very desirable. And a widespread program to increase sunlight and artificial light use in Winter for complete vitamin D nutrition is greatly needed.

Widespread use of vitamin D supplements and natural sunlight would probably bankrupt the major drug companies who depend on ill health to sell their drugs to the public. The 77% drop in cancer treatments and deaths from widespread vitamin D supplements would be a large revenue loss for the drug companies. Cholesterol and heart drugs make up the greater balance of income which would again be cut in half by widespread vitamin D supplementation to optimal levels to prevent heart and kidney diseases. Virtually every major disease category of drugs are as greatly affected by optimal vitamin D supplementation. Major drug companies can not survive this massive loss of income.

Vitamin D2 as promoted by drug companies is know to cause ill-health, kidney damage, calcification of body tissues, and malformed bone development but this research is largely ignored and D2 is continued as a major source of vitamin D supplementation in the world today.

From a strict vegan viewpoint (no animal product usage) natural sunlight with additional artificial light usage during 6 months of Winter is the only true answer for complete vitamin D nutrition. Small amounts of vitamin D are said to be in dandelion greens, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, vegetable oils, and herbs-- alfalfa, horsetail, nettle and parsley.

From a non-vegan viewpoint there are many good natural sources of vitamin D3 in the form of fish, fish oils, dairy products, butter, egg yolks, cod liver oil , liver, tuna, milk, salmon, and numerous and cheap sources of vitamin D3 supplements. The non-vegan viewpoint might be argued that mammals evolved from the sea and fish are a natural evolutionary food source for mankind-- both freshwater fish and saltwater fish.

One more viewpoint might be that of space exploration and colonization. When mankind eventually goes out into space away from natural sunlight then UVB or full spectrum lamps might be the ONLY permanent form of supplementation for complete vitamin D nutrition available. And so artificial light lamps need to be vigorously researched and utilized in any space endeavor as one of mankind's key nutritional necessities in space colonization.  Lack of sunlight, lack of complete vitamin D nutrition, and poor vitamin D nutrition such as using vitamin D2 may be the primary reason that astronauts today have rapid bone loss in space. A simple full spectrum lamp on future spaceflights and space stations may solve this critical problem of long term spaceflight.---J. E. Ante