A new study in the Oxford Economic Papers found that people’s ability to synthesize Vitamin D from sunlight declines with skin pigmentation, and unveiled the direct association of its deficiency with a higher risk of mortality. According to the study, the migration flows in the last 500 years from high sunlight regions to low sunlight regions influence contemporary health outcomes in destination countries.
The researchers here noted that Vitamin D deficiency can cause a higher risk of mortality, from illnesses including cardiovascular disease, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and certain cancers. Recent research even finds that Vitamin D affects the severity of COVID-19.
Researchers here focused on groups from high sunlight regions that migrated to low sunlight regions between 1500 and at present. The resulting population shifts caused the risk of Vitamin D deficiency to rise substantially. The researchers explored the aggregate health consequences of such…