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水平的降低被认为是一些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容易缺乏维生素D；然而，最近的研究表明，维生素D缺乏已成为一种全球现象，甚至在赤道附近的国家也是如此，妇女往往更严重缺乏维生素D。本博士论文项目从生物文化的角度研究从婴儿期到青年期的维生素D生产，以研究社会实践和规范如何创造和支配个人所经历的物理环境。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。该项目不仅解决了人类生物学和文化之间复杂的相互作用，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。生物人类学已经详细阐述了需要生产维生素D和需要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，以及为什么有些人有维生素D缺乏的风险，仍然没有答案。主要的焦点是阳光照射，但当前环境的其他方面，以及生命早期所经历的环境方面，可能同样重要。本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来评估快速城市化和社会经济变化对青年成年期维生素D产生的影响。将测试发育早期和成年期的一系列环境因素作为循环维生素D的预测因子。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产生相关的基因位点上进行测量。DNA甲基化是一种合理的机制，通过这种机制，发育过程中的环境可以调节成年期的基因组活性，该研究将调查童年环境、维生素D基因的DNA甲基化和成年期维生素D产生之间的关系。使用生物文化人类学方法可以探索生活经历如何影响生命过程中维生素D的产生和健康。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.