Mill Burray

Six seasons in, Peyton Manning and Justin Herbert are practically mirror images—nearly identical yardage, touchdowns, and win–loss records, separated by the smallest of margins. Different eras, same trajectory.

High dose vitamin D supplementation might be doing more harm than good. Stephanie Seneff, MIT researcher: Vitamin D is a signalling molecule, not a nutrient to megadose. It mobilizes calcium — but doesn't control where calcium goes. High dose vitamin D drives calcium into the arteries, leaching it from bones. A 3-year study comparing 400 IU/day, 4,000 IU/day and 10,000 IU/day found the highest dose group had statistically significantly worse bone mineral density. A 2006 study found that calcitriol supplementation (the active form of vitamin D) in young adults with kidney disease increased artery calcification — because calcitriol is taken up directly by cells in the artery wall. Artery calcification is one of the strongest risk factors for cardiovascular disease. An Indian study compared vitamin D supplementation to 20 minutes of daily sunlight in 100 men with severe deficiency. Remarkably — the supplement group had a larger increase in serum vitamin D than the sunlight group. Yet opposite effects on cholesterol: Sunlight group — cholesterol dropped. Supplement group — cholesterol increased. Why? Sunlight and vitamin D supplements take completely different routes through your body. Vitamin D supplements are fat-soluble. The liver has to synthesize cholesterol and release LDL particles just to transport them through the blood. Sunlight stimulates cholesterol sulfate synthesis directly in the skin. The sulfate component makes the molecule water-soluble — transported freely in the blood without being packaged inside an LDL particle. Because cholesterol sulfate is both water-soluble and fat-soluble, it can transfer from skin cell membranes to HDL particles or red blood cells and deliver cholesterol directly to tissues that need it. No LDL carrier required. When you get vitamin D from a supplement instead of the sun, you don't get the simultaneous increase in cholesterol sulfate. The pill doesn't just fail to replicate sunlight. It uses a completely different biological pathway. Seneff: "Vitamin D wants to be subtle. Get out in the sun." "People answer: oh yeah I know, vitamin D is important." "No. Not vitamin D. The sun.” Vitamin D is a proxy for sunlight exposure. The proxy isn't the mechanism.