I've previously copped to the perverse satisfaction I feel whenever a study comes out suggesting that some of our more aggressive, widespread health obsessions--avoiding germs, sun, fat, alcohol, etc...--may actually be undermining our quest to live forever.
Don't ask me why. Maybe the health-related asceticism practiced by my fellow Washington neurotics has driven me round the bend. Maybe I took too much to heart that whole everything-bad-is-good-for-you bit in "Sleepers." Or maybe I'm just weary of hearing how everything that tastes good is going to kill me.
No matter: Today's tidbit of interest is yet another report on how our fear of even a moment's sun exposure, along with a general distaste for dairy, is leading to serious Vitamin D deficiencies in kids, "possibly increasing their risk for bone problems, heart disease, diabetes and other ailments."
As Michael F. Holick of Boston U's School of Medicine told the WaPo:
"The sun has been demonized for years and as a result, people have avoided any direct exposire to sunlight."
But isn't that what we always do: Find something that's bad for us in excess and turn it into an avoid-at-all costs evil?
Michelle Cottle