TIL Three-quarters of U.S. teens and adults are deficient in vitamin D, the so-called "sunshine vitamin" whose deficits are increasingly blamed for everything from cancer and heart disease to diabetes, according to new research.

I was diagnosed with levels of Vitamin D in the low teens. I'm a person who is out working and exercising in the Sun a lot, often wearing shorts and sleeveless shirts. There's no reason why I should be deficient. I always develop a solid tan in the summer.

Now I take 1000 units of Vitamin D every day. My levels are up in the 30s now. And I will say, without going into gross detail, that it has improved my digestion and my time on the toilet. So for that, it's worthwhile.

What really bothers me about this is... No one can say why this level of deficiency is happening. I don't wear sunscreen or sun-blocking clothes and hats. So I assume there's something wrong with my response to the environment. But why? Is it something humans are doing to ourselves, a sort of poisioning?

/r/todayilearned Thread Link - scientificamerican.com