What Can East African Tribes Teach Us About Optimal Vitamin D Levels?
Dr. Kumar’s Take:
This study gives us a rare window into what human vitamin D levels might have looked like before the modern world moved us indoors. Despite living in the equatorial sun, the Maasai and Hadzabe don’t sunbathe — they seek shade. Yet their average vitamin D levels hover around 115 nmol/L (46 ng/mL), far above what’s considered “adequate” in modern guidelines. It suggests our current norms might be minimums, not optimal.