Doctoral Dissertation Research: Investigating the social and developmental determinants of vitamin D production

维生素D对几个器官和组织的功能至关重要，维生素D水平降低被认为是几个疾病过程中的一个促成因素。由于缺乏阳光照射，高纬度地区的人口更有可能患有维生素D缺乏症；然而，最近的研究表明，维生素D缺乏症已成为一种全球现象，甚至在赤道附近的国家也是如此，妇女往往经历更严重的缺乏症。这一博士论文项目应用了从婴儿期到成年期维生素D生产的生物文化视角，以调查社会实践和规范如何创造和支配个人经历的物理环境。通过使用纵向数据集，这项研究更深入地挖掘了导致男性和女性维生素D缺乏的可能因素，以及正在进行城市化的社会。该项目不仅涉及人类生物学和文化的复杂相互作用，而且有可能为公共卫生工作提供信息，以了解和解决维生素D缺乏症问题。生物人类学已经详细阐述了维生素D产生的需要和避免暴露在紫外线下的有害影响之间的权衡，但关于维生素D是如何调节的以及为什么一些人有维生素D缺乏的风险，仍然存在未回答的问题。主要的关注点是阳光照射，但当前环境的其他方面，以及生命早期经历的环境方面，可能也同样重要。这项研究将使用从菲律宾宿务纵向健康和营养调查中收集的纵向数据来评估快速城市化和社会经济变化对年轻人维生素D生产的影响。在发育早期和成年，一系列环境因素将被测试为维生素D循环的预测因素。此外，DNA甲基化--与基因表达相关的表观遗传过程--将在与维生素D产生相关的基因位点进行测量。DNA甲基化是一种看似合理的机制，发育期间的环境可以通过它来调节成年后的基因组活动，这项研究将调查童年环境、维生素D基因的DNA甲基化和成年后维生素D产生之间的关联。生物文化人类学方法的使用允许探索生活经历如何影响一生中维生素D的生产和幸福感。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Vitamin D is vital to the function of several organs and tissues, with decreased vitamin D levels hypothesized to be a contributing factor in several disease processes. Populations in higher latitudes are more likely to have vitamin D deficiencies due to lack of sun exposure; however, recent research indicates that vitamin D deficiency has become a global phenomenon, even in countries near the equator, with women often experiencing more severe deficiency. This doctoral dissertation project applies a biocultural perspective on vitamin D production from infancy through young adulthood to investigate how societal practices and norms create and dictate the physical environments that individuals experience. By using a longitudinal data set, the study delves deeper into the possible factors that contribute to vitamin D deficiency in both men and women, and for societies undergoing urbanization. The project not only addresses the complex interplay of human biology and culture, but also has the potential to inform public health efforts to understand and address vitamin D deficiency. Biological anthropology has elaborated the tradeoffs between the need for vitamin D production and the need to avoid damage from the harmful effects of exposure to ultraviolet rays, but unanswered questions remain regarding how vitamin D is regulated and why some individuals are at risk for vitamin D deficiency. The primary focus has been on sun exposure, but other aspects of the current environment, and aspects of the environment experienced early in life, may be equally important. This study will use longitudinal data collected from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey in the Philippines to assess the effects of rapid urbanization and socioeconomic change on vitamin D production in young adulthood. A range of environmental factors early in development, and in adulthood, will be tested as predictors of circulating vitamin D. Furthermore, DNA methylation - an epigenetic process that is associated with gene expression - will be measured at sites in genes associated with vitamin D production. DNA methylation is a plausible mechanism through which environments during development can regulate genome activity in adulthood, and the study will investigate the association between environments in childhood, DNA methylation of vitamin D genes, and vitamin D production in adulthood. The use of a biocultural anthropological approach allows for an exploration of how lived experience affects vitamin D production and well-being over the life course.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.