Thursday, June 22, 2023

Vitamin D Deficiencies Found in Tokyo Residents


I read an interesting article about a recent study conducted by Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo, which found 98 percent of physical exam results in Tokyo showed a lack of vitamin D. Blood tests of about 5,500 adult men and women from the year before the pandemic found that 98 percent of them were below the recommended levels of vitamin D. 


Vitamin D is necessary to properly take in calcium, which leads to strong bones. It can be taken into the body in several ways, including absorption of sunlight, eating fish such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna, and eating mushrooms such as shitake. In the US, milk is commonly fortified with vitamin D, but that is not normally done in Japan. 


Women in Japan commonly wear gloves, sleeves, and hats to prevent the sun leaving marks on the skin, so I suppose that also prevents getting Vitamin D. On the other hand, salmon, mackerel, tuna, and mushrooms are common foods in Japan, so why are so many people in Tokyo below the recommended levels of Vitamin D? This is very curious!  


What do you think?

3 comments:

Toki said...

Many Japanese women dislike getting sunburned. Maybe I'm worried about future blemishes.
It seems to be true that there are more ultraviolet rays from the sun than when I was a child.
Therefore, many Japanese women wear sunscreen and wear long sleeves even in summer.
It seems that it is possible to ingest the nutrients necessary for bones into the body even while wearing clothes.
It may be the effect of the extreme reduction in outing time due to the corona misfortune.
This may be the effect of earnestly implementing the government's request to refrain from going out for non-essential purposes.
I think Tokyo stands out because of its large population. I think Tokyo was the most likely place for both schools and companies to go remote. In fact, the infection rate was also the highest in Tokyo, which has a large population.

kiwikid said...

Strange indeed, numbers affected by the covid virus do you think?

Leonore Winterer said...

I think producing vitamin D from sun exposure is a much bigger factor than intake per food. Working long hours or, as many Japanese teenagers do, hiding away in their rooms, will not get you enough of that!