Vitamin D and Toxic Strawberries
A quick look at Google Trends shows a clear, undeniable trend: that of regular folks armed with curiosity, questions, and Internet connections taking their health into their own hands and searching for information on “vitamin D.” Search traffic for the keywords is at an all-time high, having steadily increased for years. But just as people are discovering importance of getting enough vitamin D, either through sunshine or supplementation, out comes the official paltry new vitamin D guidelines.
As far as I’m concerned, vitamin D deficiency is one the biggest health issues in this country. I’ve written extensively on the topic here, here, here and here. I’ll continue to get sunlight when it’s available and supplement when it’s not. And I’m sure my fellow paleo bloggers will do the same. This is a perfect example of why we distance ourselves from “Conventional Wisdom” (CW). What do you say? Has the latest report changed how you view vitamin D?
Next on the list, California strawberry lovers may want to consider – if they haven’t already – sourcing organic, local, or homegrown berries from now on. State regulators just approved the usage of methyl iodide, a potent pesticide, in place of methyl bromide, which wasn’t too good to begin with. Methyl iodide is applied directly to the soil, and it’s water-soluble, meaning there’s a pretty good chance it makes its way into the water table where it can be enjoyed by everyone. There’s also the fact that it contains an iodine atom, which, as you know, is the mineral our thyroid glands use for production of thyroid hormone. After the Chernobyl disaster, area thyroid glands took up highly toxic radio-iodide because it looked an awful lot like normal, awesome iodine, and the result was widespread incidence of thyroid cancer. Now, methyl iodide isn’t as toxic as radio-iodide, but, as this paper (PDF) comparing the toxicities of methyl iodide and methyl bromide to each other shows, all of methyl iodide’s toxic effects happen via the thyroid.
Let me know if you agree we should we change our stance of vitamin D?
