Ultraviolet radiation suppresses obesity and symptoms of metabolic syndrome independently of vitamin D in mice fed a high-fat diet (Geldenhuys et al., 2014)
Sunlight > vitamin D supps. It is known.
Brief review of vitamin D synthesis: TEAMWORK!
In brief: cholesterol -> 7-dehydrocholesterol in skin; sunlight (UV radiation) converts that into D3 which goes to liver on DBP and is made into 25(OH)-D3. That then goes to kidneys and is transformed into the active form, 1,25(OH)2-D3. What’s not shown in that graphic is when you have enough D, it’s instead converted into an inactive 24,25(OH)2-D3. This prevents toxicity from sunlight D.
Hypervitaminosis D (from supps) is rare but unpleasant.
Seasonally, in some extreme latitudes, fancy UV lamps &/or [speculatively] much cheaper reptile bulbs may supplement sunlight. And it’s not just vitamin D!
This study showed sunlight also increases nitric oxide in the skin, which has effects beyond the D… may also be supplemented with NO-inducing skin creams (also speculative), if applied to the right spots…
Big tie-in with our beloved brown adipose tissue.
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