Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[falconer66a]

Could it be an induced cholecalciferol deficiency?

...the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is significantly lower for Africans in Nigeria than for African Americans in Indianapolis, for example—up to five times lower.

Of course, the vast majority of requisite vitamin D precursors (cholecalciferol molecules) are photosynthesized in the skin. Lack of adequate UVB exposure from high-angle sunshine on the skin results in vitamin D deficiency — with a host of consequent negative outcomes. In North America, this can be a particular problem with naturally dark skin.

So, could the lower incidence of Alzheimer’s in Africans in Nigeria (with plenty of high-angle, intense, vitamin D-inducing sunshine) compared to African Americans in Indianapolis (where vitamin D cannot be photosynthesized for about six months, when the sun fails to rise to greater than a 45-degree angle and UVB is absorbed by the atmosphere at the sun’s low angle) be the cause for this discrepancy?

In short, equatorial Africa has high sun angles year-round. Vitamin D-requisite UVB strikes skin there every day of the year sufficiently to power vitamin D photosynthesis. With this, vitamin-D levels remain high and prophylactic. But in cloudy, low-sun-angle winter Indianapolis, virtually no vitamin D can be photosynthesized by anyone, from at least November through March. With this seasonal vitamin D deficiency, several disease states can occur. Including Alzheimer’s or other dementias?