Sun exposure in pigs increases the vitamin D nutritional quality of pork.
PLoS One. 2017 Nov 14;12(11):e0187877. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187877. eCollection 2017.
- about 10 hours of noonday sun increased Vitamin D levels in lean pork to 40 IU/100 grams
- What if pigs were to get say 300 hours of noonday sun or UV lighting
- might the pork have 1000 IU per 100 grams? .
- Adding indoor ultraviolet lighting is very inexpensive, but currently is not permitted by the FDA.
Would only need to switch out 10% of standard indoor lighting with UV fluorescent tubes
Strangely the FDA permitted reducing Vitamin D by raising pigs, chickens, etc indoors but does not permit increasing the Vitamin D back to what it had been - A slice of pie had about 2,000 IU – when made with lard from pigs raised outdoors
most places 100 years ago, or a few places now- Described in 5-minute video Does Less Sun mean More Disease
- Study states that people get <20% of their vitamin D from food.
Suspect that food provided about 50% of vitamin D back when
animals were raised outdoors,
meat had more fat and people ate the fat
people used lard for baking pies, cakes, cookies, etc.
people ate organ meats,
people ate meat from wild animals,
people ate oily fish
See also VitaminDWiki
- Vitamin D home fortification- don't wait 100 years for your govt
You can fortify almost any of your food with Vitamin D - lard, jams, orange juice, milk, etc
Increases vitamin D for entire family without having each member of the family remember to take a daily pill - Vitamin D can fortify a variety of food and drinks – even beer – March 2012
- Improved health due to vitamin D fortification in Finland
- Vitamin D fortification of edible oils in India starting in 2017
- Vitamin D produced in pigskin by 296 nmeter UV-LEDs – May 2016
Imagine having 297 nmeter UV light in the ceiling of indoor pig farms - Danes opposed to Vitamin D fortification, will get more COPD, diabetes, depression, lupus, leg pain, etc – Oct 2015
- Timeline of Heart Disease, Diabetes, fats, lard, HFCS, and vitamin D – Aug 2012
- "Free range" lard has 500 IU vitamin D per teaspoon
- Feed chicken lots of vitamin D, get 6000 IU per egg with no change in production – Nov 2013
- Improvements were found in every single aspect, but not permitted by the US govt.
- US Govt does not permit fortification beyond the amount which has been proven to be needed (400 IU Vitamin D to stop rickets)
- Swine with extra vitamin D more likely to get pregnant and have more and larger piglets – June 2012
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
Larson-Meyer DE 1 enette at uwyo.edu, Ingold BC 1, Fensterseifer SR 2, Austin KJ 2, Wechsler PJ 3, Hollis BW 4, Makowski AJ 5, Alexander BM 2.
1 Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (Human Nutrition), University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, United States of America.
2 Department of Animal Science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, United States of America.
3 Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, United States of America.
4 Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, United States of America.
5 Heartland Assays, Ames, Iowa, United States of America.
There is a high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency worldwide likely because of both limited sun-exposure and inadequate dietary intake. Meat, including pork, is not typically considered a dietary source of vitamin D, possibly because of management practices that raise pigs in confinement. This experiment determined the vitamin D content of loin and subcutaneous adipose tissue in sun-exposed finisher pigs. Two separate groups of pigs were used. The first group (28 white Landrace-Duroc) was assigned at random to either sunlight exposure (SUN) in spring and summer or confinement per standard practice (Control). The second (24 Yorkshire-Duroc-Landrace) underwent the same exposure protocol but was exposed in summer and fall or assigned to control (Control). A subsample of five SUN and four Control pigs, matched for weight and body condition score, was selected for slaughter from each group. Pigs (n = 10 SUN, n = 8 Control) had blood drawn for analysis of 25(OH)D3 concentration before/after sun exposure or control, and tissue samples were taken at slaughter for analysis of tissue vitamin D3 and 25(OH)D3 concentration. Three random samples from a single loin chop and surrounding adipose were collected and analyzed. Serum concentrations of 25(OH)D3 did not differ (P≥0.376) between treatments prior to sun exposure in either group, but was increased (time*treatment interaction, P<0.001) with SUN exposure. Total vitamin D content (D3 plus 25(OH)D3) of loin tissue was increased (P < 0.001) with sun exposure and averaged 0.997±0.094 μg/100g and 0.348±0.027 μg/100g for sun and control pigs, respectively. While exposure to sunlight increased (P = 0.003) tissue content of 25(OH) D in subcutaneous adipose tissue, vitamin D3 content was similar between treatments (P = 0.56). Sunlight exposure in pigs increased the vitamin D content of loin, and may provide an additional source of dietary vitamin D.
PMID: 29136033 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187877
Note that the pigs got an equivalent of only about 10 sunny hours out of 14 days (1 hour for 14 days)
Redline added by VitaminDWiki
These pigs were raised in Wyoming ( latitude: 40 degrees)
Can expect far more vitamin D if the same experiment were to be made in Florida ( latitude: 25 degrees)
Note: A few years ago you could buy pasture-raised lard from Florida pigs