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

维生素D对几种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种疾病过程的一个促成因素。由于缺乏阳光照射，高纬度地区的人群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，即使在赤道附近的国家，女性也经常出现更严重的缺乏症。这个博士论文项目应用生物文化的角度对维生素D的生产从婴儿期到青年期调查社会实践和规范如何创造和决定个人经历的物理环境。通过使用纵向数据集，该研究深入研究了导致男性和女性以及正在城市化的社会缺乏维生素D的可能因素。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。 生物人类学已经阐述了维生素D生产的需要和避免暴露于紫外线的有害影响的需要之间的权衡，但关于维生素D如何调节以及为什么有些人有维生素D缺乏症的风险仍然存在未回答的问题。 主要关注的是阳光照射，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收集的纵向数据，以评估快速城市化和社会经济变化对年轻成年人维生素D生产的影响。 在发育早期和成年期的一系列环境因素将作为循环维生素D的预测因子进行测试。 此外，DNA甲基化-一种与基因表达相关的表观遗传过程-将在与维生素D生产相关的基因中的位点进行测量。 DNA甲基化是一种合理的机制，通过这种机制，发育期间的环境可以调节成年期的基因组活动，该研究将调查儿童期环境，维生素D基因的DNA甲基化和成年期维生素D生产之间的关系。生物文化人类学方法的使用允许探索生活经验如何影响维生素D的生产和生命过程中的福祉。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

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.