Slashdot Mirror

Places with huge problems also tend to have legacies of intervention by foreign governments and foreign corporations. The Earth has no resource limitation problems in the long term:
"Earth's carrying capacity and Catton"
http://listcultures.org/pipermail/p2presearch_listcultures.org/2009-August/004123.html

But, with robots on the way, it's easy to see why many think life is cheap because masses of human labor are no longer needed for the earlier exploitation:
"Robot videos and P2P implications (was Re: A thirty year future...)"
http://listcultures.org/pipermail/p2presearch_listcultures.org/2009-November/005926.html

That is the deeper problem we need to address as a society, how to move past the irony of having all these tools of abundance but people using them to make artificial scarcity. We need to stop using military robots to enforce a culture of work on humans and instead make robots to do the work. We need to stop building nuclear missiles to fight over oil wells on Earth and instead use the same basic technologies to produce power or make accessible resources in space (I'm a renewable energy fan more than nuclear though). Here are some other ways to move past that irony:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income
http://www.basicincome.org/bien/aboutbasicincome.html
http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm
http://www.michaeljournal.org/lesson1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy
http://www.freecycle.org/
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/free_matter_economy?page=0%2C1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3d_printing
http://www.mel.nist.gov/programs/slim.htm
http://www.remineralize.org/
http://www.thevenusproject.com/
http://www.juliansimon.com/writings/Ultimate_Resource/
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C (Surviving America's Depression Epidemic)
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
http://www.honestfoodguide.org/
http://www.global-mindshift.org/memes/wombat.swf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobless_recovery

There are lots of solutions rather than kill off people or prevent them from being born when there is so much abundance for everyone these days through modern technology. You want to stop suffering? Break the link between a right-to-consume and being able to sell your labor on a market where automation and better design is removing good jobs every day, like people said would be a problem even back in 1964:
http://educationanddemocra

Populations are collapsing in industrialized countries, and there is room for quadrillions of people in space habitats, as I outline here:
http://listcultures.org/pipermail/p2presearch_listcultures.org/2009-August/004174.html
"""
The less peers that are around, the less peers can help each other and contribute to a free commons. Maybe there are laws of diminishing returns, but are we anywhere near them? What would Wikipedia be like with only 100 contributors instead of 100 thousand? Especially in a digital age, it is easy for a peer to add more to the free commons than they take away. What do you take away from Wikipedia by reading a page? A little electricity power perhaps, but Wikipedia shows us how to get all the power we need from the sun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy
So, even in a physical sense, Wikipedia is helping peers physically power it by giving away such knowledge.
We can support quadrillions of humans in the solar system (see my previous references to Dyson, Bernal, Savage, O'Neill, and there are many others), or about a million times our current population on Earth. We essentially had the specific technological ideas in the 1970s we needed to do that, even given refinements since then. So, a focus on zero or negative population growth for the human race as a whole right now, as opposed to just limiting the population currently on Earth (which might be sensible, even though I think we could easily grow 10X on Earth), has created a "Peak Population" crisis that we didn't need to have for 1000 years when we filled up the solar system (and by then, we would have better technology and better social ideology to deal with changing demographics of moving from a triangle to a square of population by age).
Sure, let's set a population target for some carrying capacity on Earth the same way the health and fire departments limit the maximum number of people in a restaurant. But, you don't limit the human population of a city (or the solar system) the same way you limit the number of people that can safely be in a restaurant (the Earth). That is ultimately the mistake that gloomsters like Catton make -- they confuse the two, mostly IMHO from lack of imagination, but also because some profit from artificial scarcity, as well, as in Catton's case, the hypocrisy of having four children while telling everyone else to have less.
"""

One of the reasons people want to have less children in industrialized countries is that they are family unfriendly. The US is rated the second to worst industrialized country to be a child, and the UK is worst:
http://web.archive.org/web/20080119001830/http://www.adbusters.org/the_magazine/71/Generation_Fcked_How_Britain_is_Eating_Its_Young.html
""The reason our children's lives are the worst among economically advanced countries is because we are a poor version of the USA," he said. "So the USA comes second from bottom and we follow behind. The age of neo-liberalism, even with the human face that New Labour has given it, cannot stem the tide of the social recession capitalism creates.""

Although, as I say elsewhere, people not getting enough sunshine and vitamin D3 from being indoors a lot may have a role to play in that too:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml

And here is a book outlining the social problems of industrialized countries and their mental health services and why much of industrialized populations are mentally ill:

Populations are collapsing in industrialized countries, and there is room for quadrillions of people in space habitats, as I outline here:
http://listcultures.org/pipermail/p2presearch_listcultures.org/2009-August/004174.html
"""
The less peers that are around, the less peers can help each other and contribute to a free commons. Maybe there are laws of diminishing returns, but are we anywhere near them? What would Wikipedia be like with only 100 contributors instead of 100 thousand? Especially in a digital age, it is easy for a peer to add more to the free commons than they take away. What do you take away from Wikipedia by reading a page? A little electricity power perhaps, but Wikipedia shows us how to get all the power we need from the sun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy
So, even in a physical sense, Wikipedia is helping peers physically power it by giving away such knowledge.
We can support quadrillions of humans in the solar system (see my previous references to Dyson, Bernal, Savage, O'Neill, and there are many others), or about a million times our current population on Earth. We essentially had the specific technological ideas in the 1970s we needed to do that, even given refinements since then. So, a focus on zero or negative population growth for the human race as a whole right now, as opposed to just limiting the population currently on Earth (which might be sensible, even though I think we could easily grow 10X on Earth), has created a "Peak Population" crisis that we didn't need to have for 1000 years when we filled up the solar system (and by then, we would have better technology and better social ideology to deal with changing demographics of moving from a triangle to a square of population by age).
Sure, let's set a population target for some carrying capacity on Earth the same way the health and fire departments limit the maximum number of people in a restaurant. But, you don't limit the human population of a city (or the solar system) the same way you limit the number of people that can safely be in a restaurant (the Earth). That is ultimately the mistake that gloomsters like Catton make -- they confuse the two, mostly IMHO from lack of imagination, but also because some profit from artificial scarcity, as well, as in Catton's case, the hypocrisy of having four children while telling everyone else to have less.
"""

One of the reasons people want to have less children in industrialized countries is that they are family unfriendly. The US is rated the second to worst industrialized country to be a child, and the UK is worst:
http://web.archive.org/web/20080119001830/http://www.adbusters.org/the_magazine/71/Generation_Fcked_How_Britain_is_Eating_Its_Young.html
""The reason our children's lives are the worst among economically advanced countries is because we are a poor version of the USA," he said. "So the USA comes second from bottom and we follow behind. The age of neo-liberalism, even with the human face that New Labour has given it, cannot stem the tide of the social recession capitalism creates.""

Although, as I say elsewhere, people not getting enough sunshine and vitamin D3 from being indoors a lot may have a role to play in that too:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml

And here is a book outlining the social problems of industrialized countries and their mental health services and why much of industrialized populations are mentally ill:

Might save a trillion dollars a year in health care costs. Especially for indoors-mainly slashdoters:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
Technology stock implications here:
    http://beforeitsnews.com/story/14046/What_Vitamin_D_Means_to_Your_Technology_Profits.html
"The scientific consensus that has held sway for four decades regarding both exposure to the sun and vitamin D has collapsed. What has emerged in place of the old settled science is the knowledge that most people in America are seriously vitamin D deficient or insufficient. The same is true for Canada and Europe, and the implications are staggering. Simply put, unless you are one of the few people with optimal serum D levels, such as lifeguards and roofers in South Florida, you can cut your risks from most major diseases by 50 to 80 percent. All you have to do is get enough D. This also means we can significantly reduce healthcare costs by taking a few simple steps. ... Behind the scenes even as I write today, the NIH is looking for a face-saving way to change positions on vitamin D without taking too much blame for having resisted those who have urged reassessment for decades."

People can take mortgages against illiquid assets to pay taxes. Native Americans are a special case of cultural genocide; to disprove your point, there are about six million millionaire families in the USA -- are they all drug addicted? This study shows most addictive behavior is environmental:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park
You have a good point on relative affluence, except that, as James P. Hogan suggests:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyage_from_Yesteryear
once wealth ceases to matter as status, people may find more worthwhile things to do with their time (like, the fact that someone might be unable design and construct their own handbags might be seen as a sign of shame?). The economy you describe, requiring economic slavery to force some people to clean other people's toilets, is on its way out one way or another:
    "Ladybug robot cleans restrooms"
    http://pinktentacle.com/2007/11/ladybug-robot-cleans-restrooms/
Gandhi had a lot to say on that toilet cleaning issue too. :-) People should vote in a good way for their interests. And they will see the consequences. If people had more free time from a basic income, many could become more informed voters and more active in various decision making processes. The health care issue shows that -- other industrialized countries have cheaper and in many ways better health care for most people than in the USA. (Granted, health care for the ultra-rich or certain others in the USA can be good within some expensive areas like cancer treatment, even if cancer treatment is often slighted and more dependent on good research for everyone.)
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerMain.shtml
By the way, vitamin D deficiency may help explain the addictive behavior and other health problems you see in darker skin sun adapted Native Americans in Arizona who have adopted an indoor mainstream US lifestyle (including working in casinos):
    "Vitamin D insufficiency in southern Arizona"
    http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/87/3/608

Treatment guidelines are here, especially important for slashdot types (like me :-) who spend too much time indoors at the computer:
  http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Well, that's how positive feedback loops work though -- you can start out with a little of a problem and watch feedback create a big problem. Consider even gaming or other computer use. Staying indoors a lot causes vitamin D deficiency, which may cause depression, which gives you less energy to go outdoors, and leaves you in more pain, and so you turn to the computer for pain relief, again as a positive feedback loop producing increasing dysfunction. This may be an important aspect of our current widespread social dysfunction in the industrialized world, especially the USA.

Anyway, some link to the science about vitamin D and mental illness, that is still emerging:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/mentalIllness.shtml
"""
We propose vitamin D plays a role in mental illness based on the following five reasons:
1. Epidemiological evidence shows an association between reduced sun exposure and mental illness.
2. Mental illness is associated with low 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels.
3. Mental illness shows a significant comorbidity with illnesses thought to be associated with vitamin D deficiency.
4. Theoretical models (in vitro or animal evidence) exist to explain how vitamin D deficiency may play a causative role in mental illness.
5. Studies indicate vitamin D improves mental illness.
"""

Things like depression in children can often manifest themselves in various ways other than withdrawal.

But sure, you're right to be wary of oversimplifications. Here is another big part of the problem, which is more social and cultural:
"Surviving America's Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy" by Bruce E. Levine"
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
http://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Americas-Depression-Epidemic-Community/dp/1933392711
"The rate of depression in the U.S. has increased more than tenfold in the last fifty years. By not seriously confronting societal sources of despair, American mental health institutions have become part of the problem rather than the solution. The good news is that age-old wisdom and legitimate science -- uncorrupted by the profit-margin pressures of pharmaceutical and insurance corporations -- have much to inform us about revitalizing depressed people and a depressing culture. Surviving America's Depression Epidemic provides an alternate approach that encompasses the whole of our humanity, society, and culture, and which redefines depression in a way that makes enduring transformation more likely."

Dr. Levine does not mention vitamin D though, but he does have a very tiny section on nutrition. Nutrition underlies a lot of this too. Here is one approach to dealing with resensetizing our tastes to healthier food:
http://www.healthpromoting.com/Articles/articles/PleasureTrap.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Mastering-Undermines-Happiness/dp/1570671508

Cure vitamin D deficiency, while also improving our society with more face-to-face interactions in healthy communities with humane values, and with everyone getting nutritious food to eat, and the world would be a much much better place for everyone. And we have more than enough resources to do that, if we did not waste them all fighting over perceived scarcity and dealing with all the craziness that comes from artificial scarcity (like an artificial scarcity of sunlight by forcing kids to be indoors all the ti

Well, that's how positive feedback loops work though -- you can start out with a little of a problem and watch feedback create a big problem. Consider even gaming or other computer use. Staying indoors a lot causes vitamin D deficiency, which may cause depression, which gives you less energy to go outdoors, and leaves you in more pain, and so you turn to the computer for pain relief, again as a positive feedback loop producing increasing dysfunction. This may be an important aspect of our current widespread social dysfunction in the industrialized world, especially the USA.

Anyway, some link to the science about vitamin D and mental illness, that is still emerging:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/mentalIllness.shtml
"""
We propose vitamin D plays a role in mental illness based on the following five reasons:
1. Epidemiological evidence shows an association between reduced sun exposure and mental illness.
2. Mental illness is associated with low 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels.
3. Mental illness shows a significant comorbidity with illnesses thought to be associated with vitamin D deficiency.
4. Theoretical models (in vitro or animal evidence) exist to explain how vitamin D deficiency may play a causative role in mental illness.
5. Studies indicate vitamin D improves mental illness.
"""

Things like depression in children can often manifest themselves in various ways other than withdrawal.

But sure, you're right to be wary of oversimplifications. Here is another big part of the problem, which is more social and cultural:
"Surviving America's Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy" by Bruce E. Levine"
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
http://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Americas-Depression-Epidemic-Community/dp/1933392711
"The rate of depression in the U.S. has increased more than tenfold in the last fifty years. By not seriously confronting societal sources of despair, American mental health institutions have become part of the problem rather than the solution. The good news is that age-old wisdom and legitimate science -- uncorrupted by the profit-margin pressures of pharmaceutical and insurance corporations -- have much to inform us about revitalizing depressed people and a depressing culture. Surviving America's Depression Epidemic provides an alternate approach that encompasses the whole of our humanity, society, and culture, and which redefines depression in a way that makes enduring transformation more likely."

Dr. Levine does not mention vitamin D though, but he does have a very tiny section on nutrition. Nutrition underlies a lot of this too. Here is one approach to dealing with resensetizing our tastes to healthier food:
http://www.healthpromoting.com/Articles/articles/PleasureTrap.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Mastering-Undermines-Happiness/dp/1570671508

Cure vitamin D deficiency, while also improving our society with more face-to-face interactions in healthy communities with humane values, and with everyone getting nutritious food to eat, and the world would be a much much better place for everyone. And we have more than enough resources to do that, if we did not waste them all fighting over perceived scarcity and dealing with all the craziness that comes from artificial scarcity (like an artificial scarcity of sunlight by forcing kids to be indoors all the ti

I agree that the OP point on sunlight not being good enough is fishy, although on a practical basis you are just not going to get enough vitamin D from sunlight living the typical mostly indoor life in the Western world. But, the OP does indirectly bring up a cutting edge area of research about what is normal vitamin D levels and how have humans evolved in different settings to process different levels of vitamin D (like in the plains, the forest, the seashore, and the frozen icy wastes of the ice ages, and with different skin pigmentation in each setting). So, there remain a lot of unknowns.

But, the rest of it as far as recommendations is legitimate according to the emerging science, even if there are, as you suggest, caveats that for some few people with rare diseases issue that may be made worse by supplementing.

You can find a vast amount of scientific papers at this site:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

Here is one 2009 study that is there:
"Vitamin D for Cancer Prevention: Global Perspective"
http://www.oncologystat.com/journals/review_articles/AEP/Vitamin_D_for_Cancer_Prevention_Global_Perspective.html
"RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: It is projected that raising the minimum year- round serum 25(OH)D level to 40 to 60 ng/mL (100–150 nmol/L) would prevent approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancer and 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer each year, and three fourths of deaths from these diseases in the United States and Canada, based on observational studies combined with a randomized trial. Such intakes also are expected to reduce case-fatality rates of patients who have breast, colorectal, or prostate cancer by half. There are no unreasonable risks from intake of 2000 IU per day of vitamin D3, or from a population serum 25(OH)D level of 40 to 60 ng/mL. The time has arrived for nationally coordinated action to substantially increase intake of vitamin D and calcium."

For most people in industrialized countries who spend most of their time indoors, to get that level, you have to supplement in the range the OP mentioned. However, as Dr. Cannell of the Vitamin D Council suggests,
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
you need periodic blood testing to be sure you are getting the right amount. Here is another blog entry from the blog the OP mentioned on this too;
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

Another resource:
"A Consortium of Scientists, Institutions and Individuals Committed to Solving the Worldwide Vitamin D Deficiency Epidemic"
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/
They have been coordinating blood test results with supplementation levels.

Experts still disagree about the best level for vitamin D in the blood, but in general, it is way higher than what most people have. Here are Dr. Mercola's suggestions, which are close to Dr. Cannell's , but higher than the Grass Roots Health groups:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/02/23/vitamin-d-deficiency-part-one.aspx
Dr. Mercola suggests sunlight is the best source.

An audio interview with Dr. Cannell on some of these issues:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/audio/dr-cannell-one-radio-network-interview-11-12-09.mp3

Like everything, there are probably limits to this advice. In that radio interview Dr. Cannell mentions one person (Trevor Marshall) who disagrees. Here

I agree that the OP point on sunlight not being good enough is fishy, although on a practical basis you are just not going to get enough vitamin D from sunlight living the typical mostly indoor life in the Western world. But, the OP does indirectly bring up a cutting edge area of research about what is normal vitamin D levels and how have humans evolved in different settings to process different levels of vitamin D (like in the plains, the forest, the seashore, and the frozen icy wastes of the ice ages, and with different skin pigmentation in each setting). So, there remain a lot of unknowns.

But, the rest of it as far as recommendations is legitimate according to the emerging science, even if there are, as you suggest, caveats that for some few people with rare diseases issue that may be made worse by supplementing.

You can find a vast amount of scientific papers at this site:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

Here is one 2009 study that is there:
"Vitamin D for Cancer Prevention: Global Perspective"
http://www.oncologystat.com/journals/review_articles/AEP/Vitamin_D_for_Cancer_Prevention_Global_Perspective.html
"RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: It is projected that raising the minimum year- round serum 25(OH)D level to 40 to 60 ng/mL (100–150 nmol/L) would prevent approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancer and 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer each year, and three fourths of deaths from these diseases in the United States and Canada, based on observational studies combined with a randomized trial. Such intakes also are expected to reduce case-fatality rates of patients who have breast, colorectal, or prostate cancer by half. There are no unreasonable risks from intake of 2000 IU per day of vitamin D3, or from a population serum 25(OH)D level of 40 to 60 ng/mL. The time has arrived for nationally coordinated action to substantially increase intake of vitamin D and calcium."

For most people in industrialized countries who spend most of their time indoors, to get that level, you have to supplement in the range the OP mentioned. However, as Dr. Cannell of the Vitamin D Council suggests,
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
you need periodic blood testing to be sure you are getting the right amount. Here is another blog entry from the blog the OP mentioned on this too;
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

Another resource:
"A Consortium of Scientists, Institutions and Individuals Committed to Solving the Worldwide Vitamin D Deficiency Epidemic"
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/
They have been coordinating blood test results with supplementation levels.

Experts still disagree about the best level for vitamin D in the blood, but in general, it is way higher than what most people have. Here are Dr. Mercola's suggestions, which are close to Dr. Cannell's , but higher than the Grass Roots Health groups:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/02/23/vitamin-d-deficiency-part-one.aspx
Dr. Mercola suggests sunlight is the best source.

An audio interview with Dr. Cannell on some of these issues:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/audio/dr-cannell-one-radio-network-interview-11-12-09.mp3

Like everything, there are probably limits to this advice. In that radio interview Dr. Cannell mentions one person (Trevor Marshall) who disagrees. Here

I agree that the OP point on sunlight not being good enough is fishy, although on a practical basis you are just not going to get enough vitamin D from sunlight living the typical mostly indoor life in the Western world. But, the OP does indirectly bring up a cutting edge area of research about what is normal vitamin D levels and how have humans evolved in different settings to process different levels of vitamin D (like in the plains, the forest, the seashore, and the frozen icy wastes of the ice ages, and with different skin pigmentation in each setting). So, there remain a lot of unknowns.

But, the rest of it as far as recommendations is legitimate according to the emerging science, even if there are, as you suggest, caveats that for some few people with rare diseases issue that may be made worse by supplementing.

You can find a vast amount of scientific papers at this site:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

Here is one 2009 study that is there:
"Vitamin D for Cancer Prevention: Global Perspective"
http://www.oncologystat.com/journals/review_articles/AEP/Vitamin_D_for_Cancer_Prevention_Global_Perspective.html
"RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: It is projected that raising the minimum year- round serum 25(OH)D level to 40 to 60 ng/mL (100–150 nmol/L) would prevent approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancer and 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer each year, and three fourths of deaths from these diseases in the United States and Canada, based on observational studies combined with a randomized trial. Such intakes also are expected to reduce case-fatality rates of patients who have breast, colorectal, or prostate cancer by half. There are no unreasonable risks from intake of 2000 IU per day of vitamin D3, or from a population serum 25(OH)D level of 40 to 60 ng/mL. The time has arrived for nationally coordinated action to substantially increase intake of vitamin D and calcium."

For most people in industrialized countries who spend most of their time indoors, to get that level, you have to supplement in the range the OP mentioned. However, as Dr. Cannell of the Vitamin D Council suggests,
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
you need periodic blood testing to be sure you are getting the right amount. Here is another blog entry from the blog the OP mentioned on this too;
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

Another resource:
"A Consortium of Scientists, Institutions and Individuals Committed to Solving the Worldwide Vitamin D Deficiency Epidemic"
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/
They have been coordinating blood test results with supplementation levels.

Experts still disagree about the best level for vitamin D in the blood, but in general, it is way higher than what most people have. Here are Dr. Mercola's suggestions, which are close to Dr. Cannell's , but higher than the Grass Roots Health groups:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/02/23/vitamin-d-deficiency-part-one.aspx
Dr. Mercola suggests sunlight is the best source.

An audio interview with Dr. Cannell on some of these issues:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/audio/dr-cannell-one-radio-network-interview-11-12-09.mp3

Like everything, there are probably limits to this advice. In that radio interview Dr. Cannell mentions one person (Trevor Marshall) who disagrees. Here

Too bad the people who wrote this study did not look at the vitamin D connection:
"Schizophrenia in black Caribbeans living in the UK: an exploration of underlying causes of the high incidence rate"
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2418996/
"The incidence of schizophrenia in black Caribbeans living in the UK is substantially higher than in the white British population. When first reported, these findings were assumed to be a first-generation migrant effect or merely the result of methodological artefacts associated with inconsistencies in the diagnosis of schizophrenia in black Caribbeans and doubts about population denominators. More recently, it has become clear that the incidence of schizophrenia, based on standardised diagnosis and sophisticated census methods, is higher still in second-generation black Caribbeans. The largest study to date has demonstrated a ninefold higher risk of schizophrenia in UK-resident black Caribbeans: findings that are of concern to black Caribbean communities, to their GPs, and to health service managers responsible for resource allocation."

Contrast with:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/the-black-community.shtml
"""
Vitamin D deficiency discriminates based on race, or more precisely, the amount of melanin (pigment) in the skin, which is an effective and ever-present sunscreen. The vitamin D theory of autism predicts that autism is more common in children born to darker-skinned mothers. Such studies are difficult as they raise sensitive social issues, although 3 of 4 recent U.S. studies found a higher incidence of autism in black children—sometimes appreciably higher. [Bhasin TK, Schendel D. Sociodemographic Risk Factors for Autism in a US Metropolitan Area. J Autism Dev Disord. 2007 Apr;37(4):667–77. Croen LA, et al. The changing prevalence of autism in California. J Autism Dev Disord. 2002 Jun;32(3):207–15. Hillman RE, et al. Prevalence of autism in Missouri: changing trends and the effect of a comprehensive state autism project. Mo Med. 2000 May;97(5):159–63.]
"""

Or:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/vitamin-d-and-schizophrenia.shtml
"""
Before I describe the remarkable paper from Harvard, I want to compliment researchers at the Saint Barthomew's Hospital in England for almost saying what most psychiatrists already know; the incidence of schizophrenia is much higher in people with dark skin. In the 1970s and 80s, that was an accepted fact, until charges of racism were leveled against the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The spineless APA promptly did retrospective chart analyses and announced the incidence of schizophrenia is exactly — precisely — the same for Blacks as it is for Whites. The ethnicity question is important as the Vitamin D theory is not tenable unless darker skin means a higher incidence. [Coid JW, Kirkbride JB, Barker D, Cowden F, Stamps R, Yang M, Jones PB. Raised incidence rates of all psychoses among migrant groups: findings from the East London first episode psychosis study. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008 Nov;65(11):1250–8.]
Actually, in 2007, a group at Columbia University appears to be the first to break with the APA's political correctness. Dr. Michaeline Bresnahan and her colleagues followed 12,000 children for up to 28 years after birth. African Americans were 3 (three) times more likely to develop schizophrenia than whites and socioeconomic factors could not explain away their findings. [Bresnahan M, Begg MD, Brown A, Schaefer C, Sohler N, Insel B, Vella L, Susser E. Race and risk of schizophrenia in a US birth cohort: another example of health disparity? Int J Epidemiol. 2007 Aug;36(4):751–8.]
"""

I wrote to the author of the first linked study on this (but no resp

Too bad the people who wrote this study did not look at the vitamin D connection:
"Schizophrenia in black Caribbeans living in the UK: an exploration of underlying causes of the high incidence rate"
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2418996/
"The incidence of schizophrenia in black Caribbeans living in the UK is substantially higher than in the white British population. When first reported, these findings were assumed to be a first-generation migrant effect or merely the result of methodological artefacts associated with inconsistencies in the diagnosis of schizophrenia in black Caribbeans and doubts about population denominators. More recently, it has become clear that the incidence of schizophrenia, based on standardised diagnosis and sophisticated census methods, is higher still in second-generation black Caribbeans. The largest study to date has demonstrated a ninefold higher risk of schizophrenia in UK-resident black Caribbeans: findings that are of concern to black Caribbean communities, to their GPs, and to health service managers responsible for resource allocation."

Contrast with:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/the-black-community.shtml
"""
Vitamin D deficiency discriminates based on race, or more precisely, the amount of melanin (pigment) in the skin, which is an effective and ever-present sunscreen. The vitamin D theory of autism predicts that autism is more common in children born to darker-skinned mothers. Such studies are difficult as they raise sensitive social issues, although 3 of 4 recent U.S. studies found a higher incidence of autism in black children—sometimes appreciably higher. [Bhasin TK, Schendel D. Sociodemographic Risk Factors for Autism in a US Metropolitan Area. J Autism Dev Disord. 2007 Apr;37(4):667–77. Croen LA, et al. The changing prevalence of autism in California. J Autism Dev Disord. 2002 Jun;32(3):207–15. Hillman RE, et al. Prevalence of autism in Missouri: changing trends and the effect of a comprehensive state autism project. Mo Med. 2000 May;97(5):159–63.]
"""

Or:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/vitamin-d-and-schizophrenia.shtml
"""
Before I describe the remarkable paper from Harvard, I want to compliment researchers at the Saint Barthomew's Hospital in England for almost saying what most psychiatrists already know; the incidence of schizophrenia is much higher in people with dark skin. In the 1970s and 80s, that was an accepted fact, until charges of racism were leveled against the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The spineless APA promptly did retrospective chart analyses and announced the incidence of schizophrenia is exactly — precisely — the same for Blacks as it is for Whites. The ethnicity question is important as the Vitamin D theory is not tenable unless darker skin means a higher incidence. [Coid JW, Kirkbride JB, Barker D, Cowden F, Stamps R, Yang M, Jones PB. Raised incidence rates of all psychoses among migrant groups: findings from the East London first episode psychosis study. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008 Nov;65(11):1250–8.]
Actually, in 2007, a group at Columbia University appears to be the first to break with the APA's political correctness. Dr. Michaeline Bresnahan and her colleagues followed 12,000 children for up to 28 years after birth. African Americans were 3 (three) times more likely to develop schizophrenia than whites and socioeconomic factors could not explain away their findings. [Bresnahan M, Begg MD, Brown A, Schaefer C, Sohler N, Insel B, Vella L, Susser E. Race and risk of schizophrenia in a US birth cohort: another example of health disparity? Int J Epidemiol. 2007 Aug;36(4):751–8.]
"""

I wrote to the author of the first linked study on this (but no resp

Dr. John Cannell of the Vitamin D Council site also calls these "Gilchrest Fractures" after a dermatologist:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2006-nov.shtml
"""
Your son had what I call a "Gilchrest fracture." About 30 years ago, dermatologists like Barbara Gilchrest at Boston University, began telling Americans, including children, to stay out of the sun, lather on the sunblock, and to "drink milk" if they are concerned about vitamin D. The problem is that your son would have to drink at least 40 glasses of milk a day to get enough vitamin D if he followed her sun-avoidance advice and it sounds like he did.
    Gilchrest fractures are vitamin D deficiency fractures in healthy people that occur after normal activities. Two studies have clearly linked such fractures to low vitamin D levels. A recent Finnish study found Gilchrest fractures to be almost four times more likely in young soldiers with vitamin D levels below 30 ng/ml (75 nmol/L). An earlier study of Israeli soldiers showed the same thing. The surprising thing about both studies was none of the men were obviously vitamin D deficient, indicating—once again—that current lower limits of vitamin D blood levels are set too low and that serum 25(OH)D levels should be maintained at 50–80 ng/ml, year-round. [Ruohola JP, et al. Association between serum 25(OH)D concentrations and bone stress fractures in Finnish young men. J Bone Miner Res. 2006 Sep;21(9):1483–8. Givon U, et al. Stress fractures in the Israeli defense forces from 1995 to 1996. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2000 Apr;(373):227–32.]
    The rates of Gilchrest fractures, even in young people, have been steadily increasing over the last thirty years, since dermatologists have been handing out their pathological advice. For example, the incidence of fractured wrists in American kids went up 32% in boys and 56% in girls between the years 1970–2000. [Khosla S, et al. Incidence of childhood distal forearm fractures over 30 years: a population-based study. JAMA. 2003 Sep 17;290(11):1479–85.]
    A study in Great Britain showed a clear latitudinal variation with the lowest fracture rates in sunnier southeast England and the highest rates in of Gilchrest fractures in Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. [Cooper C, et al. Epidemiology of childhood fractures in Britain: a study using the general practice research database. J Bone Miner Res. 2004 Dec;19(12):1976–81.]
    The good news is that your son only suffered a broken foot by following Professor Gilchrest's advice. As you will see below, others have lost their lives. ...
    All this leaves us with a question, "Are physicians responsible for their advice?" When dermatologists or other physicians subvert the vitamin D steroid hormone system by telling patients to avoid the sun, do they assume an affirmative duty to assess and maintain the vitamin D system they have subverted? Do they have a duty to inform their patients about relevant risks of sun-avoidance? Do they have a duty to inform their patients about relevant risks of vitamin D deficiency? How many dermatologists even bother to check vitamin D levels in their pale-as-ghost patients? How many bother to advise vitamin D supplements? If they do advise supplements, how many advise enough vitamin D to compensate for lack of sunlight? These are questions for tort lawyers.
"""

Most people in the USA are vitamin D deficient, and it has been linked to depression, schizophrenia, obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, autism, influenza, and more. More on getting the right level of vitamin D through using D3 gelcaps or other means:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Or another item on that blog on blood testing if you supplement:
  http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

Another site:
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/

A quiz on vitamin D:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/09/06/test-your-vitamin-d-knowledge.aspx

"Might Influenza be Little More Than a Symptom of Vitamin D Deficiency?"
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/10/21/avoid-flu-shots-vitamin-d-is-a-better-way.aspx

Many people suggest the right amount of sun exposure may still be best, but it is hard to get. If you have darker skin and work indoors, it may be almost impossible even in summer to get enough sunlight far from the equator:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/the-black-community.shtml
http://curtisduncan.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-michelle-obama-is-more-likely-to.html

Most people in the USA are vitamin D deficient, and it has been linked to depression, schizophrenia, obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, autism, influenza, and more. More on getting the right level of vitamin D through using D3 gelcaps or other means:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Or another item on that blog on blood testing if you supplement:
  http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

Another site:
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/

A quiz on vitamin D:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/09/06/test-your-vitamin-d-knowledge.aspx

"Might Influenza be Little More Than a Symptom of Vitamin D Deficiency?"
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/10/21/avoid-flu-shots-vitamin-d-is-a-better-way.aspx

Many people suggest the right amount of sun exposure may still be best, but it is hard to get. If you have darker skin and work indoors, it may be almost impossible even in summer to get enough sunlight far from the equator:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/the-black-community.shtml
http://curtisduncan.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-michelle-obama-is-more-likely-to.html

While most day-to-day engineering is, as you say, a compromise between multiple priorities, I've been told by an IBM Research "Master Inventor" that really excellent engineering figures out a way to meet all the priorities without major compromise through some new insight (but such conceptual breakthroughs are rare).

Of course, a deeper issue is, what are our priorities, values, and assumptions, and how are we choosing them? :-)

I hope we go into future technological singularities with humane values at the front of our priorities, because otherwise, building things like military robots to enforce economic dogmas (usually linked to not letting people eat unless they work) is totally ironic.
    http://educationanddemocracy.org/FSCfiles/C_CC2a_TripleRevolution.htm
Why not just build robots to do the work instead? The major challenge of the 21st century is overcoming the irony of the tools of abundance being used to create artificial scarcity (because the people directing the engineers are still preoccupied with perceived scarcity). A parody I wrote related to that:
    "A post-scarcity "Downfall" parody remix of the bunker scene"
    http://groups.google.com/group/openmanufacturing/msg/32e8fc32c89c96bd?hl=en

I think many engineers spend too much time indoors with too little sunlight. They should be taking vitamin D to help ward of disease and mental illness:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Dr. John Cannell, MD, who runs the Vitamin D web site, talks about how having just a little vitamin D can allow you immune system to get going, but you need enough vitamin D for your immune system to be able to shut itself down properly. For example:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/h1n1-flu-and-vitamin-d.shtml
"In the macrophage, the presence of vitamin D also appears to suppress the pro-inflammatory cytokines. Thus, vitamin D appears to both enhance the local capacity of the epithelium to produce endogenous antibiotics and at the same time dampen certain destructive arms of the immune response, especially those responsible for the signs and symptoms of acute inflammation, such as the cytokine storms operative when influenza kills quickly."

He hypothesizes, that in the great Spanish Flu pandemic around WWII, given troops in the troop ships tended to die of it, but not the sailors on the ships, that it might also have been a case where adults had enough vitamin D to get an immune response going, but not enough to shut it down.

It is possible you are so deficient that getting just a little in the summer leads to this effect? So, would there be a transition phase where things mike get worse until they get better with more vitamin D? Or would things just get worse? Something to think through with your doctors, and referring to the scientific literature linked on that site.

You would need a blood test for 25(OH)D as mentioned here to begin to figure that out, to see if your levels in the summer were in the range he recommends here (50-80 ng/mL) or low.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

The other obvious hypothesis might be that adequate vitamin D in the summer is causing your immune system to function normally, but it is hyper-agressive for some reason. This may be connected to why some Crohn's researchers might say that -- basically if you disable a person's immune system, it might reduce the problem? So, you may well be right about Crohn's researchers in general, I don't know.

There is one person (I forget his name, an electrical engineer?) who has treatments for issues involving reducing people's vitamin D level to zero in a variety of ways using vitamin D antagonists and inhibitors, and then using lots of some antibiotics or something. Dr. John Cannell comments negatively on that person's work on his site. I can wonder if that is who you are referring to, and it if might be this issue, that too little may create some problems? Normally, human beings who live outdoors in the sun would always have plenty of vitamin D in their system.

More scientific studies on Vitamin D and autoimmune illness:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/researchAutoimmune.shtml

So, there could well be various sets of issues on a path back to health. The typical human body has, until the last century, never spend that much time indoors year round, so it is not adapted for that. For example, Dr. Cannell suggests people who are vitamin D deficient tend to sunburn more easily -- it is just not normal for the human body to be vitamin D deficient.

Also, historically, skin color has reflected latitude, and a balance of minimizing the risk of skin cancer with dark skin vs. maximizing vitamin D production in extreme latitudes with light skin. Now that everyone moves around so much, it's especially important for people with darker skins to check their vitamin D level and supplement as needed if they live far North or South from the equator -- so a dark skinned urban professional linking someplace like Maine with indoor hobbies and not eating much fish might be most at risk of vitamin D deficiency. If you have an indoor job, indoor hobbies, or darker skin, you would be more at risk of this issue.

Dr. Cannell talks about vita

Dr. John Cannell, MD, who runs the Vitamin D web site, talks about how having just a little vitamin D can allow you immune system to get going, but you need enough vitamin D for your immune system to be able to shut itself down properly. For example:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/h1n1-flu-and-vitamin-d.shtml
"In the macrophage, the presence of vitamin D also appears to suppress the pro-inflammatory cytokines. Thus, vitamin D appears to both enhance the local capacity of the epithelium to produce endogenous antibiotics and at the same time dampen certain destructive arms of the immune response, especially those responsible for the signs and symptoms of acute inflammation, such as the cytokine storms operative when influenza kills quickly."

He hypothesizes, that in the great Spanish Flu pandemic around WWII, given troops in the troop ships tended to die of it, but not the sailors on the ships, that it might also have been a case where adults had enough vitamin D to get an immune response going, but not enough to shut it down.

It is possible you are so deficient that getting just a little in the summer leads to this effect? So, would there be a transition phase where things mike get worse until they get better with more vitamin D? Or would things just get worse? Something to think through with your doctors, and referring to the scientific literature linked on that site.

You would need a blood test for 25(OH)D as mentioned here to begin to figure that out, to see if your levels in the summer were in the range he recommends here (50-80 ng/mL) or low.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

The other obvious hypothesis might be that adequate vitamin D in the summer is causing your immune system to function normally, but it is hyper-agressive for some reason. This may be connected to why some Crohn's researchers might say that -- basically if you disable a person's immune system, it might reduce the problem? So, you may well be right about Crohn's researchers in general, I don't know.

There is one person (I forget his name, an electrical engineer?) who has treatments for issues involving reducing people's vitamin D level to zero in a variety of ways using vitamin D antagonists and inhibitors, and then using lots of some antibiotics or something. Dr. John Cannell comments negatively on that person's work on his site. I can wonder if that is who you are referring to, and it if might be this issue, that too little may create some problems? Normally, human beings who live outdoors in the sun would always have plenty of vitamin D in their system.

More scientific studies on Vitamin D and autoimmune illness:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/researchAutoimmune.shtml

So, there could well be various sets of issues on a path back to health. The typical human body has, until the last century, never spend that much time indoors year round, so it is not adapted for that. For example, Dr. Cannell suggests people who are vitamin D deficient tend to sunburn more easily -- it is just not normal for the human body to be vitamin D deficient.

Also, historically, skin color has reflected latitude, and a balance of minimizing the risk of skin cancer with dark skin vs. maximizing vitamin D production in extreme latitudes with light skin. Now that everyone moves around so much, it's especially important for people with darker skins to check their vitamin D level and supplement as needed if they live far North or South from the equator -- so a dark skinned urban professional linking someplace like Maine with indoor hobbies and not eating much fish might be most at risk of vitamin D deficiency. If you have an indoor job, indoor hobbies, or darker skin, you would be more at risk of this issue.

Dr. Cannell talks about vita

Dr. John Cannell, MD, who runs the Vitamin D web site, talks about how having just a little vitamin D can allow you immune system to get going, but you need enough vitamin D for your immune system to be able to shut itself down properly. For example:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/h1n1-flu-and-vitamin-d.shtml
"In the macrophage, the presence of vitamin D also appears to suppress the pro-inflammatory cytokines. Thus, vitamin D appears to both enhance the local capacity of the epithelium to produce endogenous antibiotics and at the same time dampen certain destructive arms of the immune response, especially those responsible for the signs and symptoms of acute inflammation, such as the cytokine storms operative when influenza kills quickly."

He hypothesizes, that in the great Spanish Flu pandemic around WWII, given troops in the troop ships tended to die of it, but not the sailors on the ships, that it might also have been a case where adults had enough vitamin D to get an immune response going, but not enough to shut it down.

It is possible you are so deficient that getting just a little in the summer leads to this effect? So, would there be a transition phase where things mike get worse until they get better with more vitamin D? Or would things just get worse? Something to think through with your doctors, and referring to the scientific literature linked on that site.

You would need a blood test for 25(OH)D as mentioned here to begin to figure that out, to see if your levels in the summer were in the range he recommends here (50-80 ng/mL) or low.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

The other obvious hypothesis might be that adequate vitamin D in the summer is causing your immune system to function normally, but it is hyper-agressive for some reason. This may be connected to why some Crohn's researchers might say that -- basically if you disable a person's immune system, it might reduce the problem? So, you may well be right about Crohn's researchers in general, I don't know.

There is one person (I forget his name, an electrical engineer?) who has treatments for issues involving reducing people's vitamin D level to zero in a variety of ways using vitamin D antagonists and inhibitors, and then using lots of some antibiotics or something. Dr. John Cannell comments negatively on that person's work on his site. I can wonder if that is who you are referring to, and it if might be this issue, that too little may create some problems? Normally, human beings who live outdoors in the sun would always have plenty of vitamin D in their system.

More scientific studies on Vitamin D and autoimmune illness:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/researchAutoimmune.shtml

So, there could well be various sets of issues on a path back to health. The typical human body has, until the last century, never spend that much time indoors year round, so it is not adapted for that. For example, Dr. Cannell suggests people who are vitamin D deficient tend to sunburn more easily -- it is just not normal for the human body to be vitamin D deficient.

Also, historically, skin color has reflected latitude, and a balance of minimizing the risk of skin cancer with dark skin vs. maximizing vitamin D production in extreme latitudes with light skin. Now that everyone moves around so much, it's especially important for people with darker skins to check their vitamin D level and supplement as needed if they live far North or South from the equator -- so a dark skinned urban professional linking someplace like Maine with indoor hobbies and not eating much fish might be most at risk of vitamin D deficiency. If you have an indoor job, indoor hobbies, or darker skin, you would be more at risk of this issue.

Dr. Cannell talks about vita

Here are science papers on Vitamin D and Inflammatory Bowel Disease:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/science/research/vitamin-d-and-inflammatory-bowel-disease.shtml

Example:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19269107
"""
The peculiar geographic distribution of inflammatory bowel disease is a puzzle for researchers. A low vitamin D status has now been linked to several Th1-mediated autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, with the strongest evidence for the vitamin's protective role in multiple sclerosis. Sunlight and vitamin D may be potent immunomodulatory agents by down-regulating Th1-driven immune responses and inducing the synthesis of antimicrobial peptides considered as natural antibiotics of the immune system. Similarly to multiple sclerosis, we propose in CD the so-called north-south gradient may be partly explained by variations in the degree of sun exposure, with vitamin D being a "seasonal stimulus". These observations may yield a better understanding of the pathophysiology of Crohn's disease and pave the way for developing new therapeutic approaches for an incurable disease. Whether a low vitamin D status is associated with an increased risk of Crohn's disease in the general population and whether vitamin D and heliotherapy may be effective in treating Crohn's disease will require additional investigations.
"""

How to get adequate vitamin D:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

You could try a blood test for vitamin D right now as recommended there to see if you are deficient in vitamin D, and, if you are seriously deficient, you might talk with your doctors about trying vitamin D3 supplements first (or maybe even an injection of a megadose by a doctor in your situation) before trying surgery (or maybe a UV-B lamp if you can't absorb vitamin D supplements well right now). Have you noticed any correlation with the seasons? Is it a little better in summer? A little worse in winter?

Do you avoid the sun? I would think it would be common in writer types like Dan O'Bannon, or some other media people who work indoors a lot. Vitamin D deficiency is at epidemic levels across the USA and may be linked to a host of issues from cancer through autism to depression. Even if adequate vitamin D did not help with Crohn's, it might at least help with other issues that stem from it.

Obviously, there may be other factors as well (other vitamins -- vitamin A relates to membrane health but every one might be an issue, or other environmental issues). Best of luck finding something that works for you, and then afterwards in rebuilding strong roots in your life whatever they may be, relationships, hobbies, philosophies, laughter, helping others, enjoying time in nature, and so on, to help you weather the storms of life and Crohn's disease.

Here are science papers on Vitamin D and Inflammatory Bowel Disease:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/science/research/vitamin-d-and-inflammatory-bowel-disease.shtml

Example:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19269107
"""
The peculiar geographic distribution of inflammatory bowel disease is a puzzle for researchers. A low vitamin D status has now been linked to several Th1-mediated autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, with the strongest evidence for the vitamin's protective role in multiple sclerosis. Sunlight and vitamin D may be potent immunomodulatory agents by down-regulating Th1-driven immune responses and inducing the synthesis of antimicrobial peptides considered as natural antibiotics of the immune system. Similarly to multiple sclerosis, we propose in CD the so-called north-south gradient may be partly explained by variations in the degree of sun exposure, with vitamin D being a "seasonal stimulus". These observations may yield a better understanding of the pathophysiology of Crohn's disease and pave the way for developing new therapeutic approaches for an incurable disease. Whether a low vitamin D status is associated with an increased risk of Crohn's disease in the general population and whether vitamin D and heliotherapy may be effective in treating Crohn's disease will require additional investigations.
"""

How to get adequate vitamin D:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

You could try a blood test for vitamin D right now as recommended there to see if you are deficient in vitamin D, and, if you are seriously deficient, you might talk with your doctors about trying vitamin D3 supplements first (or maybe even an injection of a megadose by a doctor in your situation) before trying surgery (or maybe a UV-B lamp if you can't absorb vitamin D supplements well right now). Have you noticed any correlation with the seasons? Is it a little better in summer? A little worse in winter?

Do you avoid the sun? I would think it would be common in writer types like Dan O'Bannon, or some other media people who work indoors a lot. Vitamin D deficiency is at epidemic levels across the USA and may be linked to a host of issues from cancer through autism to depression. Even if adequate vitamin D did not help with Crohn's, it might at least help with other issues that stem from it.

Obviously, there may be other factors as well (other vitamins -- vitamin A relates to membrane health but every one might be an issue, or other environmental issues). Best of luck finding something that works for you, and then afterwards in rebuilding strong roots in your life whatever they may be, relationships, hobbies, philosophies, laughter, helping others, enjoying time in nature, and so on, to help you weather the storms of life and Crohn's disease.

By the way, there is one pill these days that can help a lot with life-extension for most US Americans. Vitamin D3 gelcaps 5000 IU, with this treatment protocol including blood testing:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Human lifespan in hunter-gather times past infant mortality might have been into the 60s or older.

The following is from something I wrote elsewhere:
http://www.pdfernhout.net/reading-between-the-lines.html

Humanity used to live in relative abundance with a few people with limited wants living on a big planet.
"The Original Affluent Society" by Marshall Sahlins
http://www.primitivism.com/original-affluent.htm
"Hunter-gatherers consume less energy per capita per year than any other group of human beings. Yet when you come to examine it the original affluent society was none other than the hunter's - in which all the people's material wants were easily satisfied. To accept that hunters are affluent is therefore to recognise that the present human condition of man slaving to bridge the gap between his unlimited wants and his insufficient means is a tragedy of modern times."

Let us call this time "pre-scarcity". Because of the very success of hunter-gatherers, their populations grew, and they got harder to feed. That was the beginning of scarcity. In desperation, people turned to agriculture. But it had problems. Humanity had to suffer the resulting worse nutrition from less diversity of sources. Human skeletons actually were shorter from the advent of agriculture until only reaching hunter-gatherer stature about this century.
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/6812.html
"For instance, the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture approximately 10,000 years ago has commonly been seen as a major advancement in the course of human evolution. However, as Larsen provocatively shows, this change may not have been so positive. Compared to their hunter-gatherer ancestors, many early farmers suffered more disease, had to work harder, and endured a poorer quality of life due to poorer diets and more marginal living conditions. Moreover, the past 10,000 years have seen dramatic changes in the human physiognomy as a result of alterations in our diet and lifestyle. Some modern health problems, including obesity and chronic disease, may also have their roots in these earlier changes."

Populations grew even further and militaristic bureaucracies arose like hurricanes on a warming ocean.

As Marshall Sahlins suggests, then comes along "Modern Times":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Times_(film)
"Modern Times is a 1936 comedy film by Charlie Chaplin that has his famous Little Tramp character struggling to survive in the modern, industrialized world. The film is a comment on the desperate employment and fiscal conditions many people faced during the Great Depression, conditions created, in Chaplin's view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialization."

Let's call this time "scarcity" times. Those are what our recent ancestors lived through, and to an extent we are still living in now. All the things you have read about how certain things have gotten better from the 1800s and early industrialization are probably true.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens
But, they miss the big picture of the phase change transition from pre-scarcity hunter-gatherers (like the Hmong or Iroquois in older times) to

While depression has many causes, vitamin D deficiency may help explain why there is more depression in the winter months:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml
"However, it is not to early to heed the following advice: If you suffer from depression, get your 25(OH)D level checked and, if it is lower than 35 ng/mL (87 nM/L), you are vitamin D deficient and should begin treatment. If you are not depressed, get your 25(OH)D level checked anyway. If it is lower than 35 ng/mL (87 nM/L), you are vitamin D deficient and should begin treatment."

More treatment details here:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
"If you refuse to see a physician, or can't find a knowledgeable one, purchase the 1000 IU/day vitamin D3 cholecalciferol pills that are available over-the-counter in North America or a 5,000 IU capsule. Take an average of 5,000 IU a day, year-round, if you have some sun exposure. If you have little, or no, sun exposure you will need to take at least 5,000 IU per day. How much more depends on your latitude of residence, skin pigmentation, and body weight. Generally speaking, the further you live away from the equator, the darker your skin, and/or the more you weigh, the more you will have to take to maintain healthy blood levels."

While depression has many causes, vitamin D deficiency may help explain why there is more depression in the winter months:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/depression.shtml
"However, it is not to early to heed the following advice: If you suffer from depression, get your 25(OH)D level checked and, if it is lower than 35 ng/mL (87 nM/L), you are vitamin D deficient and should begin treatment. If you are not depressed, get your 25(OH)D level checked anyway. If it is lower than 35 ng/mL (87 nM/L), you are vitamin D deficient and should begin treatment."

More treatment details here:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
"If you refuse to see a physician, or can't find a knowledgeable one, purchase the 1000 IU/day vitamin D3 cholecalciferol pills that are available over-the-counter in North America or a 5,000 IU capsule. Take an average of 5,000 IU a day, year-round, if you have some sun exposure. If you have little, or no, sun exposure you will need to take at least 5,000 IU per day. How much more depends on your latitude of residence, skin pigmentation, and body weight. Generally speaking, the further you live away from the equator, the darker your skin, and/or the more you weigh, the more you will have to take to maintain healthy blood levels."

As one possibility, you can contribute to the growing open manufacturing and maker communities that are creating a free commons of knowledge of how to make things. For example, you could help with RepRap somehow. Or you could improve Blender or other 3D modeling software. Or you could build better communications tools about manufacturing knowledge (maybe based on Google Wave?) Eventually, all that will lead to a new paradigm for manufacturing, allowing us to build better systems, including better spacecraft and habitats. Just make sure you get enough supplemental Vitamin D3 if you stay indoors a lot doing that. :-)
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

"If we all had our one acre of land, even if one of us screwed it up, humanity could continue. But if the King owned all the land, then, the King could screw up all the land, and frequently, will."

And if one of those people on their one acre of land makes a bioengineered plague, then everyone dies? Or, when the nuclear power plant next door melts down, we permanently evacuate Manhattan?

Here is something to consider, by Manuel de Landa:
http://www.t0.or.at/delanda/meshwork.htm
"Indeed, one must resist the temptation to make hierarchies into villains and meshworks into heroes, not only because, as I said, they are constantly turning into one another, but because in real life we find only mixtures and hybrids, and the properties of these cannot be established through theory alone but demand concrete experimentation."

Manuel de Landa suggests we need a healthy balance between meshworks and hierarchies.

By the way, make sure you get enough Vitamin D while working inside on simulations, as I agree the public health agencies have dropped the ball on a lot of things:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/vitamin-d-and-h1n1-swine-flu.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
http://curtisduncan.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-michelle-obama-is-more-likely-to.html

Also, on "socialism":
http://digg.com/political_opinion/Socialist_Agencies_Destroying_America_Graphic
"""
This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.
I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.
After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level
determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.
On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.
After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.
And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in me

"If we all had our one acre of land, even if one of us screwed it up, humanity could continue. But if the King owned all the land, then, the King could screw up all the land, and frequently, will."

And if one of those people on their one acre of land makes a bioengineered plague, then everyone dies? Or, when the nuclear power plant next door melts down, we permanently evacuate Manhattan?

Here is something to consider, by Manuel de Landa:
http://www.t0.or.at/delanda/meshwork.htm
"Indeed, one must resist the temptation to make hierarchies into villains and meshworks into heroes, not only because, as I said, they are constantly turning into one another, but because in real life we find only mixtures and hybrids, and the properties of these cannot be established through theory alone but demand concrete experimentation."

Manuel de Landa suggests we need a healthy balance between meshworks and hierarchies.

By the way, make sure you get enough Vitamin D while working inside on simulations, as I agree the public health agencies have dropped the ball on a lot of things:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/vitamin-d-and-h1n1-swine-flu.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
http://curtisduncan.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-michelle-obama-is-more-likely-to.html

Also, on "socialism":
http://digg.com/political_opinion/Socialist_Agencies_Destroying_America_Graphic
"""
This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.
I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.
After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level
determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.
On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.
After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.
And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in me

Maybe it is more important to ask everyone to get their Vitamin D levels checked?
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/vitamin-d-and-h1n1-swine-flu.shtml
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Why is it OK to force people to get vaccinations (which are not 100% effective, and which can have side effects) but asking medical staff to get enough sleep, eat right, avoid bad stress, exercise, and either get sunlight or take vitamin D3 supplements seems like it can't be enforced? Why is it OK and moral to insist on vaccinations for medical staff but not diet and lifestyle issues? Forcing medical interns to work overtime so they lose sleep is obviously putting everyone at risk, too, if the interns' immune systems are weaker from lack of sleep or sunlight. Why don't hospitals change their policies more on that?

Maybe it is more important to ask everyone to get their Vitamin D levels checked?
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/vitamin-d-and-h1n1-swine-flu.shtml
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

Why is it OK to force people to get vaccinations (which are not 100% effective, and which can have side effects) but asking medical staff to get enough sleep, eat right, avoid bad stress, exercise, and either get sunlight or take vitamin D3 supplements seems like it can't be enforced? Why is it OK and moral to insist on vaccinations for medical staff but not diet and lifestyle issues? Forcing medical interns to work overtime so they lose sleep is obviously putting everyone at risk, too, if the interns' immune systems are weaker from lack of sleep or sunlight. Why don't hospitals change their policies more on that?

Most US people are Vitamin D deficient. See the Vitamin D Council web site for how to test and supplement:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/vitamin-d-and-h1n1-swine-flu.shtml

Most US people are Vitamin D deficient. See the Vitamin D Council web site for how to test and supplement:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/vitamin-d-and-h1n1-swine-flu.shtml

Most US people are Vitamin D deficient. See the Vitamin D Council web site for how to test and supplement:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/vitamin-d-and-h1n1-swine-flu.shtml

Most US people are Vitamin D deficient. See the Vitamin D Council web site for how to test and supplement:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/vitamin-d-and-h1n1-swine-flu.shtml

There has been some recent noise about low levels of vitamin D being a possible cause of autism. People are so worried about skin cancer that they can't make enough vitamin D from the sun. While they get enough vitamin D to prevent scurvy, it's far from an optimal amount.

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/vit-D-theory-autism.shtml#hd1
http://timeofgrace.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/low-vitamin-d-linked-to-autism/

Milk doesn't provide enough to make a significant contribution. In the US, almost all milk sold commercially has been fortified with 400 IU of D3 per quart.

Your skin will make up to 10,000 IU per day, *if* you get 10-15 minutes of direct sunlight. Your body's ability to do that diminishes with age.

In April, my doctor had me take a 25-hydroxy D3 test (which Blue Cross refused to pay for, BTW), and found that my level was 19.5 ng/mL. Recent studies show that 32 ng/mL is a minimum threshold for good health (Hollis, J Nutr. 2005 Feb; 135(2); 317-22). He prescribed a series of 50,000 IU capsules, one every 4 days.

I might point out that I'm a cyclist--I get plenty of sun in the summer--but I am over 50.

Also, good luck trying to find 50,000 IU D3 capsules in any store.

Anyway, here are some interesting articles:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

For the conspiracy-minded among you, there has been a proposal on the table to increase the MDI, but the pharmaceutical companies don't want the recommendation adopted until they have developed some patentable analogues.