Okay, here's a good one, just to challenge you all ...

(I relish trying to stump the incredible Mrs. D



Does anyone know (or know someone who would really know) whether you get Vitamin D during winter in northern latitudes by going up altitude?

Nutritionists and scientist agree that everything above the latitude of Los Angeles in the Northern Hemisphere (i.e. most of North America and Europe), because of the latitude on earth relative to sun position, inhabitants will not receive Vitamin D from October through April or even after 2pm during the rest of the year.

Thus, most Europeans have low vitamin D and subsequent health problems. One can plot diseases on the globe (such as MS or ovarian cancer) and see that there is a definite north-south gradient, meaning more disease where less Vitamin D.

I once said this to a nutritionist and this person said that if you live in a mountainous region, during winter months one could go up in altitude (have a sunny day high up skiing or walking) and that would change the person's position relative to the sun and they could get vitamin D during winter.

However, this person said it in a way that made me believe they didn't really know this to be scientifically true and was just guessing.

Does anyone know scientifically if this is really true or just one of those hazy myths?

Has anyone heard anything similar or know of any studies?

Thanks for any thoughts,

Natalie