As you soak in rays of almost-summer sunshine, your thoughts may turn to vitamin D — because you probably know it has something to do with the sun. But do you actually know what it is?
Humans are kinda capable of photosynthesis, and they use it to produce what scientists believe to be the oldest hormone that has ever existed on earth. It’s vitamin D, and it’s been around 750 million years, ever since tiny phytoplankton began cranking out the stuff in what is now the Atlantic Ocean.
Scientists aren’t sure exactly why vitamin D developed, but one theory is that it functioned as a kind of early sunscreen. It also helped with another stumbling block on the evolutionary road out of the water and onto land: calcium. Going from the calcium-rich environment of the sea onto dry land presented certain difficulties, namely getting enough of it, and it just so happens that the production of vitamin D in the body changes the ability of calcium to get into each cell. This likely made more of the calcium already present in the body usable.
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