Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
areas of Norway in particular, it has become increasingly prevalent in those who do
not venture outdoors. However, this can be cured by increasing the amount of time
spent outside in sunlight, or through light therapy from intense light pads (Lurie
et al.
2006
) and adding vitamin D to diets.
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Autoimmune Diseases
Another worrying medical trend in recent years has been the explosion in the in-
cidence of autoimmune diseases (AI), such as Type 1 Diabetes, Multiple Sclero-
sis, Schizophrenia, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohn's disease, Coeliac disease (gluten
intolerance), several forms of Cancer, and, as some researchers suggest, Autism
(Kinder and Hagaman
2011
; Yang et al.
2013
). These diseases are given the AI la-
bel as they are caused by the body attacking its own tissues, with some researchers
suggesting they currently affect 5-10 % of the world population, proportions that
seem certain to increase, even if they are not yet in the highest causes of mortality
and ill-health (Ramagopalan et al.
2009
,
2010
). The exact causes are still unknown,
but it has been recently found that these diseases have higher rates in the developed
lands of higher latitudes, as well as in urban, compared to rural societies, and with
seasonal peaks in late winter and spring (DiSanto et al.
2012
). It has also been sug-
gested that these associations seem to account for the higher levels of diseases such
as MS in women in cloudy areas such as the Orkneys, in increases in black-skinned
individuals who are second generation immigrants in inner city London, as well as
in women in Iran since the Islamic revolution forced many women to wear all-em-
bracing veils (Gille
2004
; Michie 2013). Researchers are suggesting that the envi-
ronmental effect of low sunlight exposure in both northern and, it must be stressed,
urban
places, results in vitamin D deficiencies, which may also be at least a partial
cause of the explosion in the incidence of many of these non-skeletal problems. The
recent increases in asthma rates also seems to have similar causes. Litonjua and
Weiss (
2007
) have calculated that asthma now affects 300 million people world-
wide and has shown a 50 % increase since the 1970s, which also seems to be the
result of a deficiency of vitamin D, in this case one that impairs lung development
in the foetus (Hagaman et al.
2011
).
More recent research has also discovered that natural levels of vitamin D are
also low in mothers with children born in late winter-early spring. This is due to
a lack of exposure to the vitamin D-causing properties of sunlight, again linked to
more indoor living. Research reviews have implicated over 18 of these autoimmune
diseases (AI) with low vitamin D levels in pregnancy so that deficits in this vitamin
go beyond its role in bone metabolism that leads to rickets (Yang et al.
2013
). Al-
though the precise causes of the relationships are still under investigation, the low
vitamin D effect may be exacerbated by genetic risk and perhaps mothers' diets
(Weiss and Litonjua
2007
; Litonjua and Weiss
2011
). Researchers have suggested
that it is probable that the low vitamin levels may make a pregnant mother's body
create antibodies that cause particular genes to malfunction as well as damaging the
brain of the foetus. These antibodies are not flushed away before birth, but remain
