Saturday, August 27, 2016

Burkini - 'To cover up or Not to cover up?' Vit D deficiency in covered up individuals higher than uncovered


From Will at THE OTHER NEWS:

Burkini - 'To cover up or Not to cover up?' Vit D deficiency in covered up individuals higher than uncovered. (MFS).

As a Canadian i remember the hype a number of years ago about Canadians having low levels of Vit D in our system.

According to Stats Canada:






Vitamin D plays an important role in bone growth and maintenance because it helps the body absorb calcium and phosphorus.1,2

In children, low levels of vitamin D can cause rickets, a condition characterized by soft bones and skeletal deformities. 
In adults, low levels of vitamin D can lead to osteoporosis (decreased bone mass) which is especially true for women, which also increases the risk of fractures. 
Some research suggests that adequate vitamin D may have benefits, such as lowering the risk of breast and colorectal cancer3,4, cardiovascular disease in men5, and multiple sclerosis. However, the research supporting the benefits of vitamin D, other than for bone health, is still inconclusive.

Vitamin D is unique because it can be made by the body through exposure to sunlight while most vitamins need to be ingested. That is why it is commonly known as the 'sunshine vitamin.' The body's ability to produce vitamin D is affected by factors such as latitude (distance from the sun), season, time of day, cloud cover, smog, clothing coverage, and sunscreen use.

Skin pigmentation is also linked to vitamin D levels. Melanin in the skin evolved as an effective natural sunscreen. Those with darker skin pigment, or more melanin, have more difficulty producing vitamin D from the sun.

The body's ability to produce vitamin D from the sun also declines with age. For example, a person aged 70 makes, on average, 25% of the vitamin D that a 20-year-old makes when exposed to the same amount of sunlight.

The most comprehensive survey ever undertaken on vitamin D in Canadians has found widespread deficiencies of the sunshine vitamin, which is being promoted for everything from the prevention of cancer to reducing heart attack risk. 

The survey, conducted by Statistics Canada, found that two-thirds of the population has vitamin D levels below the amounts research is associating with reduced risk of chronic diseases such as cancer, while one in 10, or more than three million people, have such low readings that they don’t have enough for good bone health. About 4 per cent have so little that they’re at risk for rickets, a debilitating childhood bone disease.

Statscan also found a huge vitamin D disparity among Canadians based on racial origin, with whites having substantially higher concentrations than the prevailing levels in the country’s growing non-white population. Whites had an average of nearly 40 per cent more of the nutrient than non-whites. 

It termed low levels of the vitamin a “worldwide problem,” and said most Canadians don’t have concentrations at “the level proposed for optimal health.”

2. So is covering up with a Burkini a wise idea? 

Scientific study in Turkey: Clothing preference affects vitamin D status of young women.

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with several chronic diseases, which include cardiovascular, autoimmune diseases, and cancer.

Several factors such as exposure to sunlight, skin color, dietary habits, and cultural factors affect serum vitamin D levels.

We hypothesized that serum vitamin D levels in young women are associated with clothing styles and investigated this via a cross-sectional study that included 100 female students at Istanbul Medipol University.

Our study used a questionnaire in order to collect demographic information. Serum calcium, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, alkaline phosphatase, and parathyroid hormone levels were determined via standard laboratory tests. We deployed bioelectrical impedance analysis to measure body composition, and we then determined the body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and total body fat values. The mean age was 20.9 ± 2.1 years.

Subjects' data were divided into 2 groups based on their clothing styles: covered (Muslim style clothing) and uncovered.

Muslim style clothing, which covers the whole body but leaves the face and hands exposed, was worn by 40.0% of the undergraduate students. 
The mean BMI (in kilograms per meter squared) of the subjects was 23.0 ± 3.6. The BMI value for the covered students was 24.0 ± 4.0, and that for the uncovered students was 22.3 ± 3.1. Of the subjects, 28.0% had a BMI of at least 25 kg/m(2) (overweight). Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (in nanograms per milliliter), parathyroid hormone (in picograms per milliliter), alkaline phosphatase (in units per liter), and calcium levels (in milligrams per deciliter) were 21.1 ± 6.7, 27.5 ± 9.2, 65.9 ± 10.9, and 9.0 ± 0.2 for covered students, respectively, and 29.7 ± 3.1, 24.3 ± 6.1, 62.8 ± 13.2, and 9.0 ± 0.4, respectively, for uncovered students. 
The prevalence of vitamin D deficiencies was 55.0% for covered and 20.0% for uncovered students. 
The vitamin D status was found to be statistically significant and had a negative correlation with the duration of Islamic dressing (P < .05, r = -0.334). 
We concluded that the vitamin D levels of young women are associated with clothing style, and the age at which a female begins wearing Muslim style clothing is related.

Hmmmm........So ladies go ahead coverup but don't complain about Osteoporosis, Cancer, Cardio vascular problems....etc, the choice is yours! 

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