The Vitamin D-Folate Hypothesis in Human Vascular Health.

The Vitamin D-Folate Hypothesis in Human Vascular Health. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2019 Jul 17;: Authors: Wolf ST, Kenney WL Abstract The vitamin D-folate hypothesis has been proposed as an explanation for the evolution of human skin pigmentation. According to this hypothesis, a darkened skin pigment was adapted by early human populations living in equatorial Africa to protect against photodegradation of bioavailable folate by ultraviolet radiation (UVR). As humans moved away from the equator to more northern latitudes and occupied regions of lower UVR exposure and greater seasonal variation, however, depigmentation occurred to allow for adequate biosynthesis of vitamin D. Vitamin D and folate are both recognized for their evolutionary importance in healthy pregnancy and early childhood development. More recently, evidence has emerged demonstrating the importance of both vitamin D and folate in vascular health via their effects in reducing oxidative stress and improving nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. Thus, populations with darkened skin pigmentation may be at elevated risk of vascular dysfunction and cardiovascular disease in low UVR environments due to hypovitaminosis D; particularly important as darkly-pigmented African Americans represent an at-risk population for cardiovascular disease. Conversely, lightly-pigmented populations in high UVR environments may be at risk of deleterious vascular effects of UVR-induc...
Source: American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology - Category: Physiology Authors: Tags: Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol Source Type: research