Vitamin D, folate, and potential early lifecycle environmental origin of significant adult phenotypes

Abstract

Solar radiation early in pregnancy interacts with light sensitive vitamins to influence an embryo's genetic profile. This influences both adult disease risk and may play a role in the evolution of skin colour.

Solar activity at birth predicted infant survival and women's fertility in historical Norway

“…Importantly, we have taken this finding one step further by showing that early exposure to solar activity affects childhood survival, particularly during infancy. One proximate explanation for the relationship between solar activity and infant mortality may be an effect of folate degradation (vitamin B) caused by UVR [11,37,38]. Folate is needed for DNA synthesis and for the maintenance of the epigenome [39] and is thus essential for the development of healthy and fecund individuals during gestation [13].…”

“…Levels of UVR vary with solar activity [9], latitude/altitude [10] and photoperiod [11]. The detrimental effects of high UVR exposure during development are unclear but may act via multiple molecular (degradation of folate and DNA damage) and cellular (membrane damage) mechanisms [10,[12][13][14] in the developing organism.…”

“…However, organisms can exhibit differential defences against UVR damage, including behaviour (avoidance), accumulation of photo-protective compounds (pigmentation, e.g. melanin and carotenoids) as well as cellular defence mechanisms (DNA-repair and antioxidants) [16,17], and specific genotypes [11]. Moreover, the presence of such UVR defence mechanisms is often costly and indicates that UVR represents a potential environmental factor in life-history evolution [13].…”

Mass Spectrometric Profiling of Vitamin D Metabolites beyond 25-Hydroxyvitamin D

“…Although the excellent quantitative performance, particularly for the dihydroxylated vitamin D species, was not specifically mentioned by the authors, we suggest that this was likely due to the focused elution bands of chromatographic peaks achieved by the online Values are partial correlation coefficients × 100 after adjustment for age, sex, and ethnicity between the indicated pairs of analytes and clinical parameters; r values for individual comparisons are depicted using a bipolar color progression as indicated by the scale below the figure. Only traits for which at least one r value was greater than or equal to ±10 are shown [reproduced with permission from Stiles et al (79 )]. BMI, body mass index; HOMA IR, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance; ALP, alkaline phosphatase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; GGT, ␥-glutamyltransferase; CK, creatine kinase; LDH, lactate dehydrogenase; GFR MDRD, glomerular filtration rate according to the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease formula; BUN, blood urea nitrogen; TG, triglycerides; WBC, white blood cell.…”

“…receptor polymorphisms, which are affected by thyroidstimulating immunoglobulin early in life, also determine the relevance of dietary sources of vitamin D in defining insulin concentrations at later stages in life (79 ).…”