Overview

• A study compared vitamin D levels in modern Aberdeen residents with preserved hair from a 16th or 17th-century burial, revealing similar seasonal patterns of deficiency.
• Despite modern advances in diet and supplementation, winter vitamin D levels remain low, with higher levels observed in summer months for both historical and contemporary populations.
• The research, led by the University of Aberdeen, utilized a novel method to analyze vitamin D in hair, marking the first application of this technique to archaeological remains.
• Vitamin D is crucial for skeletal health, immunity, and chronic disease prevention, but Scotland’s limited winter sunlight restricts natural production of the vitamin.
• The findings suggest hair analysis could provide a more comprehensive understanding of health trends over time compared to blood samples, offering insights into seasonal and dietary effects.